1. We have been serving refugees and asylum seekers in the North East since 2003 Originally birthed out of a local church as a response to a growing number of Asylum Seekers with NRTPF Our Mission is to “Relieve destitution and poverty; whilst empowering and providing opportunity for those seeking sanctuary” in the North East

2. ? We are founding board members of NACCOM which connects, encourages and promotes best practice amongst charities and projects working to provide practical solutions to Migrant destitution There are NACCOM project in most dispersal areas in the UK as well as in London.

3. What do we currently do? We provide a range of linked services for both asylum seekers & refugees. We have a number of themed weekly drop ins where trained staff & volunteers help meet individual needs or signpost to other specialist providers. We believe in empowering individuals to make informed choices about their future options. Much of what we do is about transition, empowerment and moving to positive destinations. We are not a long term alternative to the Home Office provision We are not immigration solicitors & do not give out immigration advice We aim to be a friend to what the bible calls the sojourner or alien in the land whatever their back ground We aim to be creative in providing short to medium term solutions to homelessness amongst both asylum seekers and refugees

4. Weekly drop in services for asylum seekers including: Food support, hosting and housing for those with NRTPF, Signposting to specialist legal & advice services. Internet, pool, volunteering & other activities to promote wellbeing & integration

5. Specialist provider of housing and related support services for over 55 refugees living in Middlesbrough. Working with both private sector, a housing association and wider voluntary sector landlords. We offer a one stop support 5 days a week, plus full “move on” & employability support to clients in Middlesbrough.

6. We have weekly appointments & drop in services for refugees including; information, advice and guidance on all “move on” functions, benefits, housing etc. delivered in partnership with Middlesbrough CAB. We run a specialist Refugee Work Club, helping 35 to 50 per week with CV’s Job search / access to training, volunteering opportunities.

7. How Our Model Developed Started housing 4 destitute women NRTPF in a borrowed house in 2003 We began to house refugees in 2008 by renting and subletting a property converted for shared accommodation. We also began “podding” having both refugees & asylum seekers in the same house We started to rent & sub-let more property that met small HMO standards (3/4 beds) By renting rooms to refugees we covered the costs of providing rooms for those with NRPF

8. How Our Model Developed For 2 years we ran a Night Shelter with 7 churches We gave each tenant with NRTPF 12 months max while we worked intensely with them We then had 2 properties gifted to us. We started managing other peoples property We worked with investors to help them source and renovate the right property We have now built a portfolio that now covers core project staff costs

9. Our Current Housing Portfolio We now have 24 houses on our books 3 are rent free (2 purchased for our use, 1 gifted from a local housing association), 5 we rent off other landlords & sublet 16 we manage for a % fee for landlords (ex student, & new investors motivated by their faith) 7 are shared accommodation and 9 are family/joint tenancies We house 17 asylum seekers with NRTPF We house 58 Refugees

10. A Typical Teesside Town House Purchase cost with conversion to Shared accommodation £75K 3 refugee rooms bringing £10,000 income 1 free room NRTPF. £8,100 running costs and £1800 surplus for wider project

11. Some concluding thoughts? Cheap housing on Teesside has aided the building of a portfolio which allows a number of non-EU destitute migrants to be housed in our case asylum seekers with NRTPF to be housed for free. How? Through cross subsidy where refugees (ie those with RTPF) rent rooms and cross subsidize those with NRTPF Demand for Shared accommodation bed spaces by refugees who are under 35’s has been a key. On Teesside a home owner can generally get a higher yield on rental incomes from properties converted to shared accommodation This allows costs to be covered and for individual rooms to be made available free for those with NRTPF.

12. and other stuff… We are building relationships with local housing associations and other registered providers We are using social media to tell our story and mobilise interest We have had to be flexible and creative. A strong volunteer team has been essential. We are developing a hosting scheme alongside our housing portfolio. We consistently undertake reviews and evaluations with clients. We want to keep them focussed on their options and don’t want life to be to comfortable

13. Questions?