More than 100 homelessness and migrants’ rights organisations have called on the next government to stop the asylum system ‘driving people needlessly’ into destitution.
A letter to party leaders, coordinated by Homeless Link and the No Accommodation Network (NACCOM), says the immigration system means migrants are made much more vulnerable to homelessness, or face more barriers to moving on from homelessness, than people with British citizenship.
NACCOM director Bridget Young said people in the asylum system are ‘blocked from accessing vital support services that are available to everyone else, including, for many, emergency homelessness accommodation’.
The letter calls for a cross-departmental approach to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness.
Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson said: ‘The main political parties have all made commitments to vastly reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.
‘But the elephant in the room is the way our immigration and asylum systems push people into homelessness and destitution.’
