The theme of Refugee Week 2026 is Courage. At a time when some seek to divide and blame, this calls us to come together and share the courage to welcome, to stand for what we believe in, and to celebrate culture and community.
It takes a huge amount of courage to leave the place you call home and seek to build a new life in a safe country.
But after fleeing war, persecution or exploitation and gaining refugee status, rebuilding and moving on with your life in the UK is still much harder than it should be. Government policies on asylum and immigration often actively harm the possibility of successful resettlement, and can lead directly to homelessness.
A challenging context: How Home Office policy is driving up refugee homelessness
Those challenges begin at the point someone first receives their status, with the latest statistics suggesting a growing proportion of statutory homelessness is caused by evictions from Home Office accommodation.
We know that because of successive governments’ actions, the move-on period – the time someone has to leave Home Office accommodation after receiving an asylum decision – remains a crisis point at which many people fall into homelessness and destitution.
For many years the move-on period was set at 28 days, an extremely limited amount of time for someone unfamiliar to UK systems to find alternative accommodation, benefits, employment, and other vital support before being evicted.
Following a 56-day pilot with multiple changes and last-minute extensions, in March the Government decided to set the move-on period as 42 days from when someone receives a decision, with the option for people to request extensions if they are at imminent risk of homelessness.
It’s unclear that this length of time will be sufficient to enable people to take those essential first steps - like claiming Universal Credit, setting up a bank account, and securing suitable housing.
Other long-standing challenges remain. Documentation delays, a lack of joined up voluntary sector and local authority support in many areas, the unaffordability or inaccessibility of English language tuition and most asylum-seekers being denied the right to work.
Refugees also continue to face major barriers to finding housing, with hugely oversubscribed waiting lists for social housing, an expensive private rented sector and reluctance from some landlords, and inadequate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates, which are even worse for under-35s.
At the same time, this Government has made a further decisive policy shift toward immigration deterrence and enforcement, and an intensification of the hostile environment.
Homeless Link members offering hope
Despite all these challenges, Homeless Link members are offering hope and working hard to support refugees striving to build new lives in their new communities.
During Refugee Week, we turn to celebrate the courage of their work supporting refugees experiencing homelessness, in extremely difficult circumstances.
Below are just three examples of services showing considerable courage to support refugees in need.
Mustard Tree
When 80 tents were outside Manchester Town Hall, Mustard Tree set up the ‘New Welcome Hub’ alongside Manchester City Council and other local partners, to best support new refugees who had been evicted from their asylum accommodation after receiving their ‘Leave to Remain’ status.
Mustard Tree hosted the hub – providing information, one-to-one support and access to the ‘Freedom Project’ to learn new skills and find work.
"Mustard Tree was more than just a place to train - it was a turning point in my life. It gave me the confidence, skills, and support I needed to rebuild my future in a new country.” Benson, a former Mustard Tree client and trainee.
Mustard Tree also hosts the Refugee Welcome Programme in Manchester. A partnership between Manchester City Council, Mustard Tree, Breaking Barriers, Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN) and Rainbow Haven, the programme works with refugees and people seeking asylum to build employability and integration skills, and supports with language learning.
Find out more about Mustard Tree's work on their website.
Micro Rainbow
Micro Rainbow supports LGBTQI people coming to the UK in search of safety, through a programme of support encompassing safe housing, advocacy, social inclusion events, and employability support.
Rosalind Duignan-Pearson, Micro Rainbow Communications Manager, comments:
"Sadly, LGBTQI people seeking asylum are often not safe when they get to the UK. Within asylum accommodation and the wider asylum system, they can face the same persecution they left their home countries to escape. That is why in 2017, we started our safe housing programme, to provide secure and inclusive accommodation for LGBTQI people seeking asylum in the UK. We now offer more than 40K safe bed nights a year”
Find out more about Micro Rainbow's work on their website.
Boaz Trust
Working across Greater Manchester, Boaz Trust offer accommodation and holistic, trauma-informed support to people facing homelessness after a decision on their asylum claim, including those granted refugee status and those refused asylum.
“Last year we worked with over 800 people from more than 60 countries. Alongside our direct support, we campaign and advocate to challenge the unjust systems and policies that cause and prolong destitution.” Ros Holland, Boaz Trust CEO.
For many years, Boaz Trust ran a hosting scheme and winter night shelters as part of their work, alongside shared housing. Today, the Boaz accommodation offer is centred on shared housing, complemented by housing-focused outreach support for people with refugee status or insecure immigration status.
Find out more about Boaz Trust's work on their website.
Homeless Link's work to end refugee homelessness
Homeless Link is pushing for policies that would make the work of our members easier as they seek to end and prevent refugee homelessness.
We’ve been campaigning against shortening the move-on period and are currently working on a report, jointly with the No Accommodation Network (NACCOM), about what a good asylum move-on process would look like. We’ll be using this to influence decision-makers and promote local good practice.
We have recently responded to Government consultations on ‘earned settlement’ and reforming asylum support, highlighting the risk of increased levels of homelessness and urging the Government not to go ahead. We continue to make representations to the Home Office and MHCLG about how these plans are not conducive to the targets outlined in the National Plan to End Homelessness. And we’ve added our voice to other efforts across the sector pushing for a change in approach.
If you’re interested in supporting our campaigning and influencing efforts, sign up to the campaigns newsletter.
Resources to support organisations working to address homelessness amongst refugees and non-UK nationals
Homeless Link’s National Practice Development team have collated a range of information and resources on addressing homelessness among non-UK nationals. Take a look at how they might be able to support your work.
