Don't Break Up Our Communities: Room for Refugees

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FAO Caseworkers & Social Workers Assisting Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Apply for a caseworker account here .

To offer a spare room in your home, register here .

For more information about this pioneering scheme go to www.roomforrefugees.com or http://www.paih.org/host-a-refugee/

Good morning,

Happy New Year and I trust that you and your loved ones are staying well through these challenging times.

I'm writing to let you know that we have free shelter available through our volunteer hosts in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London and elsewhere across Scotland and the U.K.

If you or your organisation works with refugees and asylum seekers who are in need of free shelter, you may wish to refer your client to our refugee hosting service. We offer a fast, online referral system for caseworkers helping refugees, asylum seekers and their families, and those with No Recourse to Public Funds who are at risk of homelessness or insecure housing and are trying to rebuild their lives.

Room for Refugees was pioneered in 2002 in Scotland. It is most active in Glasgow and London. This hosting network works to connect refugees and asylum seekers with potential hosts in almost every location you can imagine. Room for Refugees ensures that a dedicated caseworker is on hand to ensure the hosting process runs smoothly. Hosts will often provide a home for several months or longer.

Key facts:

In 2019/20, Room for Refugees provided over 43,000 nights of shelter for almost 250 children, women and men in while they try to resolve their legal or housing situation.
Over 7,500 households have registered with us out of a desire to to contribute positively in the current refugee crisis.
On any given night, we shelter between 50 and 80 families, individuals or unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the homes of our hosts.

Currently, over 750 front-line workers, managers and social workers from the British Red Cross, Refugee Council, Crisis, Freedom from Torture, local authorities and hundreds of other refugee and homelessness organisations are registered with the REFER system.

The outcomes have been highly positive, with guests going onto to get refugee status, leave to remain, study, work or be reunited with family members from abroad. By providing a safe place to stay, caseworkers can then focus on helping their client's to resolve their legal or housing situation.

This significant humanitarian resource can potentially make a life changing impact on:

those affected by the Syrian refugee crisis
unaccompanied child refugees in the UK and Europe
refugees and asylum seekers who are already in the UK and at risk of destitution anywhere in the UK
long term destitute refugees and asylum seekers

We provide a simple, online form, with excellent reporting facilities so you can track your client's' progress. You can refer previous clients again for hosting, perhaps towards the end of a stay or if they need to move to a new area. We also provide a list containing all the clients you have referred in the past, so you can see the progress and outcome of previous and ongoing cases and the number of nights of shelter provided.

Each caseworker in your organisation gets a secure, passworded account, allowing them to focus on helping their client to resolve their crisis situation and achieve long term stability and resolution.

Apply for a caseworker account here .

To offer a spare room in your home, register here .

For more information about this groundbreaking scheme go to www.roomforrefugees.com or http://www.paih.org/host-a-refugee/

For more information, visit www.roomforrefugees.com or drop us a line.

Best wishes and kind regards,

Robina Qureshi
Director

Positive Action in Housing | Working together to rebuild lives

A registered Scottish charity SC027577

A company limited by guarantee 158867

T: 0044 141 353 2220

F: 0044 141 353 3882

www.PositiveActionH.org

www.roomforrefugees.com