Calling for a place to call home for everyone

This Refugee Week, our policy and influencing officer, Annabeth, tells us about some of the changes we’re calling for to ensure everyone has a safe place to live…

At Caritas Salford, we believe that everyone deserves a safe, secure place to call home.  

Every day, we work alongside people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire who are experiencing poverty, homelessness or displacement. Behind every circumstance, there is a person with inherent dignity, who likely never imagined they would find themselves in crisis. 

The reality is that homelessness can happen to anyone. 

Homelessness is rarely the result of a single event. It is often driven by a combination of difficult circumstances, many of which are outside of someone’s control. We know that there are certain factors which can increase the risk of homelessness, including relationship breakdown, domestic abuse, disability or ill health, and sudden life changes such as bereavement or job loss. 

Another situation which can place people at high risk of homelessness is the transition from asylum accommodation after a person has been given permission to stay in this country. 

When someone is granted refugee status, they are given a ‘move-on period’ to leave their accommodation, secure an income and find somewhere new to live.  

This period is only 42 days and does not give people long to set up bank accounts, find work or apply for benefits, try to save for a deposit and search for a home, all while navigating unfamiliar systems, often in a new language.  

If a person seeks support from the council, just like everyone, they will only be offered housing if they meet specific criteria, such as having certain health conditions, families with children, and fleeing domestic abuse.  

We meet many people in our services who end up having to sleep rough because the time given to establish an income and find a home is simply not enough. 

One person came to us for support after sleeping rough, having been unable to secure accommodation within the move-on period and being assessed as not eligible for housing by the council. His limited English made it even more difficult to navigate unfamiliar systems independently. Sadly, the only accommodation he was eventually able to find was overcrowded, significantly below housing standards, and run by a landlord taking advantage of multiple tenants in similar circumstances.  

This highlights how the short timeframe creates a cliff edge which pushes people into homelessness, while also increasing vulnerability to exploitation within the private-rented sector. 

It has a detrimental effect on people’s health and wellbeing, as well as their ability to rebuild their lives and establish themselves as part of society. 

This is why we are calling for a longer and more realistic move-on period of 56 days. This was piloted by the Home Office last year and better supported efforts to prevent homelessness, giving people more time to establish an income and find somewhere suitable to live. It would also align with well-established homelessness legislation.   

Everyone deserves a place to call home. It is a key foundation for rebuilding a life and looking to the future with hope, and we will continue to speak up for the changes needed to ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive with equal dignity, in accordance with the social teaching of the Catholic Church. 

Read more about the changes we call for from policymakers here, and take a look here at how you might be able to get involved and support our work.