By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council says it is “working intensively” to ensure asylum seekers who are granted leave to remain this year do not become homeless.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set a target last year of clearing the backlog of asylum claims by the end of 2023.
The council expects to find out this week how many asylum seekers living in Nottingham – often in hotels – will be affected.
The new rules apply to adults from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Sudan.
It is expected most of the decisions will grant leave to remain, due to the nature of conflict in those countries.
The council said it is “working intensively” with the voluntary sector and housing colleagues to ensure those seeking asylum do not end up on the streets.
They said a “large proportion of claimants are single males” which could create demand in the charity sector, and likely result in an increase in homelessness.
The city council said any other health and wellbeing issues “will need to be absorbed by local services”.
In a Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on September 27, Amy Goulden, Head of Community Safety at the authority, said the team will have a “very clear picture” of the situation by January 2024.
She said: “The Government has introduced a streamlined process, meaning people from certain places will get a quicker decision in order to deal with the backlog nationally and locally.
“The policy was changed in December 2022 and the ask is that decisions are made by the end of this year.
“By January 2024 we expect decisions to be made. That is only three months from now and it is a significant number of people who will have a decision in that time.
“We expect those decisions to be largely positive, looking at the countries the Government has chosen.
“We understand the conflict in those areas and the likelihood of a positive decision.
“A number of people will gain the right to remain in the UK and that will have an impact on housing.”
If an asylum seeker is granted leave to remain, they receive £69 a week in local housing allowance money.
“They need to find a lot of friends to move in with to meet local rent”, Ms Goulden commented.
She said: “We have to organise and facilitate that process, and help them with the language barriers so they don’t end up in a homeless situation.”
According to national figures for the end of June 2023, there were 175,457 people awaiting an initial decision on their claim, which is 44 per cent higher than the figure from the previous year.
Ms Goulden added that any asylum seekers who are granted leave to remain are free to move anywhere within the UK, so some people could move into Nottingham and others could move away from the city.
The Government has also said that there will be a shorter window for evictions.
Refugees who are granted asylum are usually given 28 days by the Home Office to find somewhere new to live and sign up for benefits before they must leave their government-funded hotel accommodation.
Ms Goulden said: “The chances of getting those benefits secured within the seven-day window aren’t that high.
“We have had to come up with local plans to manage our response to manage this crisis and mitigate the risks of homelessness.”
City Council documents stated: “The new policy will result in a large number of asylum claims being made across the UK by the end of the year.
“This will affect claimants housed in Nottingham and the broader East Midlands region.
“The exact numbers affected locally are unknown as the data provided by the Home Office does not allow accurate predictions to be made.
“Furthermore, it is not known what proportion of those given leave to remain will choose to stay in Nottingham nor how many individuals granted asylum (refugee status) will decide to move to the city.
“We also understand that due to the high numbers granted status on appeal many of those who receive a negative decision will put in an appeal.
“Nationally 70 per of claims are granted, with a further 43 per cent granted on appeal. It is therefore reasonable to assume that significant numbers in the East Midlands will be granted asylum by the end of the year.”
