The Government’s Illegal Migration Bill returns to Parliament today (26th April) to be debated by MPs. NACCOM and 52 charities and organisations that support and advocate for people experiencing, and at risk of, homelessness and destitution, jointly wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP, last month to express our deep concerns about the impact of the Bill on homelessness and destitution in the UK. A further 29 charities have also expressed their support for the letter and the issues raised.
Edit: The reply, dated 23rd May 2023, to this open letter can be viewed here.
TO: The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
2 Marsham Street London
SW1P 4DP
CC: Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt Hon Suella Braverman KC MP
24th March 2023
Subject: Impacts of the Illegal Migration Bill on homelessness and destitution
Dear Secretary of State,
We write as organisations and charities, many of us frontline, that support and advocate for people experiencing, and at risk of, homelessness and destitution.
We are profoundly concerned by the proposals laid out in the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill.
If passed in its current form, the Bill could see as many as 190,000 people, including some 45,000 children, have their claim to asylum deemed inadmissible over the next three years if they arrive by routes deemed irregular by Government. With no realistic prospect of a return to their country of origin, or a safe third country, the Bill would effectively lock those whose asylum claims are deemed inadmissible out of society, leaving them to face an indefinite period of extreme hardship and poverty, unable to work and vulnerable to exploitation. The inevitable outcome for many would be homelessness and destitution.
Impact on homelessness and destitution
You will know from your department’s work that homelessness and destitution have no place in a society that is fair, just and equitable, and wishes to thrive. Learning and evidence from frontline services, borne out by the successes of Everyone In, shows that enabling someone to resolve their immigration status is an important part of unlocking pathways out of homelessness. However, the Illegal Migration Bill will condemn thousands of people to live in limbo due to their immigration status, with no pathway to move forward and rebuild their lives.
As well as the significant risk of harm this deliberately punitive immigration policy presents to individuals, it will have a profound impact on communities in the UK, and will clearly undermine the Government’s manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping in England by 2024.
We know, as frontline practitioners, that unless all the complex and wide-ranging drivers of homelessness in migrant communities are tackled head-on, any strategy to end rough sleeping will fail. Alarmingly, the Illegal Migration Bill looks set to create an entirely new homeless and precariously-housed population, increasing the likelihood of people rough sleeping on our streets and in our communities.
Impact on individuals, communities and support providers
As support providers, we are also deeply concerned about the impact the Bill will have on individuals’ mental and physical wellbeing, and the additional burden it will place on already over-stretched voluntary sector and statutory support services, who provide a vital lifeline to those who have restricted or no eligibility to public funds due to their immigration status.
Giving people a chance of protection in the UK provides them the opportunity to rebuild their lives after traumatic journeys, as well as to ultimately unlock their potential, with positive outcomes for integration into local communities, as well as health and wellbeing. By withholding this right, the Illegal Migration Bill will create an additional, unsustainable demand on statutory and non-statutory support services – not only by failing to address existing support needs and vulnerabilities, but by creating additional ones.
The Bill does not address many issues with the existing asylum support system, which include poor quality accommodation and financial support that trap people below the poverty line. Instead, the new legislation would exacerbate these problems, making a system that is worse for all, whilst adding significant new pressures to the voluntary and statutory sector.
We urge the Government to withdraw the Bill, in light of the significant risks of destitution and homelessness and the harm this presents to individuals and communities around the UK.
To discuss these matters further, please contact Bridget Young, NACCOM Director – [email protected].
Yours faithfully,
Bridget Young – Director, NACCOM
Abi Brunswick – Director, Project 17
Aderonke Apata – Trustee, Museum of Homelessness
Aderonke Apata – Founder and CEO, African Rainbow Family
Andrew Owen, Jane Cronin, and Christine Owen – Volunteers, Whispers of Hope
Anna Lewis – CEO, Open Door North East
Ashley Horsey – Chief Executive, Commonweal Housing
Becky Hellewell – Head of Support and Immigration, St. Augustine’s Centre
Dr. Chris Wooff – Joint Leader, ACAP (Ashton Churches Asylum Project)
Dave Smith – Coordinator, Refugee Resource Centre for Churches
Denise McDowell – CEO, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
Duncan Shrubsole – Director of Policy, Communications and Research, Lloyds Bank Foundation
Ellen Ayres – Senior Project Support Worker, Abigail Housing
Emily Crowley – Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees
Emma Haddad – CEO, St Mungo’s
Ewan Roberts – Centre Manager, Asylum Link Merseyside
George Dunstall – CEO, All People All Places
Jared Hodgson – CEO, Hope at Home
Jo Cobley – Chief Executive, Young Roots
Jon Beech – Director, Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network
Joseph Goulding – Head of Governance, Big Help Project
Karen Downing – CEO, Women’s Health Information and Support Centre
Karen Pearse – Director, Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Kat Lorenz – Director, Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP
Kathy Mohan, OBE, Chief Executive, Housing Justice
Lisa Norcross – Project and Fundraising Manager, Kairos Housing
Mark Goldring – Director, Asylum Welcome
Matt Downie MBE – Chief Executive, Crisis
Mel Steel – Director, Voices in Exile
Merfat Musleh – HBA and HP Team Coordinator, Savera UK
Miranda Reilly – Director, AVID
Natalie Williams – Chief Executive, Jubilee+
Nathan D Ndlovu – Chairman, CARAG
Nicolle Levine – Chair, Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network (LASSN)
Osama Bhutta – Director of Campaigns, Policy and Communications, Shelter
Paul Hook – Director, Asylum Matters
Pauline Mary Ruth – Chair of Trustees, Trinity Safe Space Charity
Richard Priestley – Trustee, New Neighbours Together
Rick Henderson – CEO, Homeless Link
Ros Holland – Chief Executive, Boaz Trust
Rowena Serrano – Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA), Local Solutions
Sadia Sikandar – Activist / Campaigner / Advisory Panel, West End Refugee Services
Sally Daghlian OBE – CEO, Praxis
Salma Ravat – CEO, One Roof Leicester
Sarah Teather – Director, Jesuit Refugee Service UK
Seána Roberts – Administrator, Liverpool City of Sanctuary
Seána Roberts – Manager, Merseyside Refugee Support Network
Sebastian Rocca – Founder and CEO, Micro Rainbow
Shereen Cowley – LGBTQIA+ Refugee and Asylum Support Lead, Sahir House
Simon Petty – Volunteer, Care4Calais Liverpool
Stanford Biti – CEO, CAST Communities and Sanctuary Seekers Together
Susan Cawley – Chair of Trustees, Hope for Southall Street Homeless
Ted Britton – Chair of Trustee, West Yorkshire Destitute Asylum Network (WYDAN)
Tim Naor Hilton – Chief Executive, Refugee Action
