Local and national solutions for preventing refugee homelessness

See the full report and explore the findings.

Who is this resource for?

This is a policy report produced jointly by Homeless Link and NACCOM.

The report examines why the asylum move-on period continues to be a significant driver of homelessness among newly-granted refugees, and makes recommendations to the national Government which will be of interest to policy makers, officials and parliamentarians.

The report also compiles examples of good practice among local authorities and VCS organisations that are successfully tackling refugee homelessness in their areas. It draws from these a set of principles for practice that any area developing its own response might follow. The report should therefore also be of interest to local authorities, local charities and community organisations, and other local partners working on refugee homelessness.

Why were these resources created?

Being granted refugee status should be a moment for celebration, and the point at which life becomes more secure. In practice, a significant number of people find themselves homeless within weeks of being given protection in the UK.

A positive decision triggers a short transition out of asylum accommodation and into the wider housing system. Research has consistently identified this window – known as the ‘move-on period’ – as a pressure point in the asylum system and a key driver of homelessness among non-UK nationals.

What are the key findings from this report?

The Government has set a 42-day move-on period for people to leave asylum accommodation, despite evidence showing that a 56-day period would be more effective at preventing homelessness. The 42-day period meaning that people granted refugee status still have inadequate time to find housing in a highly overstretched and unaffordable system.

Asylum seekers continue to be denied the right to work in the vast majority of cases, harming their future employment prospects and leaving them more reliant on the social security system after being granted status.

ESOL provision is patchy and inaccessible in many places.

There is still an inadequate central offer from the Government to prepare people living in asylum accommodation to navigate UK systems and access the support they need to successfully move on with their lives.

Stretched local authority finances and insufficient funding for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) mean there is not always sufficient coverage of local services to fill in the gaps.

And the Labour Government under Keir Starmer pursued a number of more recent harmful reforms to asylum and refugee policy which will create additional risk of homelessness and destitution. There are currently no signs of these reforms being discontinued under the current Government led by Andy Burnham's premiership.

It therefore outlines what is needed to make the local practice highlighted by the report achievable everywhere, and to ensure that reform elsewhere in the asylum and immigration system does not undermine the outcomes on ending homelessness that the Government has set out to achieve.

How can local authorities and their partners prevent homelessness among newly-granted refugees?

• Preparation and support while in asylum accommodation: Begin support well before an asylum decision is made, providing accessible information about housing, benefits, employment, ESOL, transport and local services. Resources and support should be co-designed with people who have lived experience.
• Post decision navigation: Work with people as soon as a decision is received, aim to provide continuity of support before and after a decision, run regular drop-ins and advice sessions to resolve issues, and facilitate coordinated working between local authorities, voluntary sector organisations, AMLOs (where present), the DWP and other partners.
• Housing and homelessness support for those not in priority need: Complete a housing/homelessness assessment with people as soon as they receive a decision on their asylum claim, develop and disseminate clear and digestible information about the housing system and likely housing options, commission/deliver specialist supported housing and/or lodging/hosting schemes, and proactively support refugees to source and maintain suitable housing in the private rented sector.
• Partnership working and internal coordination: Build deliberate, trusted partnerships across organisational boundaries, involve people with lived experience and work with trusted community networks to disseminate accurate information, dedicate specialist capacity to refugee move-on, establish clear internal referral routes and shared access to systems within local authorities, and look to embed a dedicated, person-facing role from whom newly-granted refugees can seek consistent guidance.

See the report for the principles in full.

What national policies need to change?

• Extend the move-on period permanently to at least 56 days, starting from receipt of all essential documentation.
• Provide a single, clear, translated decision communication.
• Create automatic local authority notifications when people are placed in asylum accommodation and when decisions are made.
• Include the Home Office in the Duty to Refer and Duty to Collaborate so that people entering move-on are reliably connected to local support.
• Develop a national joined-up approach to preventing refugee homelessness, across housing, health, employment, benefits and integration services.
• Review immigration policies for homelessness risk before implementation, including proposals that could increase precarity, debt and destitution.
• Give people seeking asylum the right to work after six months and expand ESOL provision.
• Increase social housing supply and improve housing affordability by unfreezing LHA; lifting the benefit cap; and scrapping the shared accommodation rate for under-35s.
• Fund local areas sufficiently to deliver pre- and post- decision support and housing sustainment work, through adequate, multi-year settlements.