A growing number of British households are offering accommodation to asylum seekers, according to charities, following a surge in public sympathy for refugees. The Boaz Trust, a Christian charity in Manchester that has found homes for destitute asylum seekers for a decade, said it had been overwhelmed by inquiries since the publication of the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach.
“We’ve never had so many inquiries,” said Ros Holland, the charity’s chief executive. “We had someone from Gloucester call up the other day saying: ‘I know I’m not in Manchester, but I’ve got a spare room. How can I help?’ Someone else phoned up from Edinburgh. It’s been quite overwhelming.”
The phenomenon is not confined to Britain. In Iceland, more than 17,000 people signed an open letter to the welfare minister offering homes after the government agreed to take just 50 Syrian refugees. In Germany, the grassroots organisation Refugees Welcome, described as “Airbnb for refugees”, received numerous offers of accommodation. Finland’s prime minister, Juha Sipila, said he would put up a family in his country home, while in Britain, Bob Geldof said he could fit three families into his Kent home and another in his London flat.
Despite the surge in offers, the UK is receiving far fewer asylum applications than more than a decade ago. According to Home Office figures, there were 25,771 asylum applications in the year ending June 2015, compared with 84,132 in 2002. The largest number of claims came from Eritreans and Pakistanis, with Syrians the third-largest group. Just 216 Syrians have been granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, which began in March 2014.
Asylum seekers who are offered shelter by the government are typically accommodated by Serco or G4S, the outsourcing companies contracted by the Home Office, often in areas where rents are cheap, such as Rochdale. While their claims are processed, they receive £36.95 per week and are allowed to use the NHS, with children attending schools. However, if claims are turned down, which happens in 13% of Syrian cases, they lose all state support and can find themselves on the streets.
The gap between public generosity and the number of refugees arriving in the UK remains wide. Under David Cameron’s latest initiative, the UK is to take up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years, but many of those arriving are unlikely to need spare rooms, given the government’s accommodation arrangements. The Boaz Trust says it is still working to match offers with the most vulnerable asylum seekers who fall through the system.
