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24/5/2023 Press Release: Government must abandon plans to exclude those seeking sanctuary from vital housing safety regulationRead Now People seeking sanctuary excluded from vital housing safety regulation
Over one hundred and thirty organisations have signed a letter to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP, and to the levelling-up secretary, Michael Gove MP, voicing their extreme concerns about regulations currently being considered by Parliament to remove licensing requirements for asylum accommodation.
The open letter co-authored by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (RAMFEL) and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) amassed 137 signatories, including Crisis, Shelter, the Refugee Council and Amnesty International. It calls for Ministers to abandon plans that would see asylum-seekers housed in unsafe accommodation with inadequate protections against fire and overcrowding. Gavin Smart, chief executive at Chartered Institute of Housing stated: “The licensing scheme for houses that are multi-occupied are designed to keep people safe, especially safe from fire. They need to apply to everyone, including people seeking sanctuary in the UK. That’s why we’re calling on the government to drop its proposal to exempt asylum accommodation from the HMO licencing arrangements.” The letter notes that the strain on the asylum accommodation system is due to excessive delays in asylum decision-making and the fact that those seeking asylum are not allowed to work. The letter urges the Home Office to address these problems rather than deny people seeking sanctuary the basic accommodation rights that should be afforded to all tenants. Mary Atkinson at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said: "This government is essentially proposing a two-tier system of housing, with fundamental human rights for people born here but not for those who come here seeking safety. This is outrageous. Everyone deserves a home that is decent and safe – by stripping away these protections for people seeking sanctuary, this Government is putting people’s lives at risk. It must instead act to quickly and fairly process asylum claims, and make sure local authorities are properly resourced to provide safe housing for all who need it.” The letter asks government to redouble efforts to ensure that asylum accommodation is safe, healthy and secure, rather than removing HMO licensing requirements. The letter was sent with a further, detailed briefing document for all MPs to consider. Nick Beales, head of campaigning, at Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (Ramfel) commented: “Whilst appalling under any circumstances, the government appears to have made this decision following lobbying by private companies whose motivation is solely profit driven. Rather than prioritising increased profits for these companies, the government should be focused on ensuring that housing provided to asylum seekers is safe, sanitary and allows them to best settle into their local communities. “If the government was truly committed to reducing the numbers of refugees in asylum support accommodation, their focus would be on processing claims, granting people leave to remain and allowing them to work whilst decisions on their claims are made. Instead, this is more vicious cruelty that puts vulnerable peoples’ lives at risk. “We call on the government to reverse these punitive changes and guarantee basic housing standards for all UK residents.” 24/5/2023 137 housing and migrants’ rights organisations sign joint letter calling on the British government not to trash vital housing protections for refugee accommodation.Read Now 
RAMFEL, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants have co-authored a joint letter, signed by 134 other organisations, calling on the British government not to trash vital housing protections.
The government is trying to ram through plans that would remove legal protections for asylum accommodation, opening the door for landlords to provide unsafe, overcrowded and even less sanitary housing for people who have already been forced to flee their homes. This is wrong and we are calling on the government to abandon these plans and recognise that everyone deserves safe and decent housing. Read this letter below. 24th May 2023 Dear Secretaries of State People seeking sanctuary excluded from vital housing safety regulation We are writing to express our organisations’ extreme concern about the regulations being considered by Parliament that would remove the licensing requirements for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) used as asylum accommodation. We are aware that the Home Office promises to repeat the requirements that normally apply in licensing via its contracts with accommodation suppliers; however, experience with enforcement of conditions in existing contracts indicates that this is very unlikely to be sufficient or comprehensive given the scale of accommodation required. We are particularly concerned that the potential combination of overcrowding, sharing of facilities such as kitchens and potentially lax enforcement of gas and electrical safety standards poses a severe fire risk (these factors appeared to be behind the recent tragic fire in Tower Hamlets). Given that much of the accommodation is likely to be in flats or in terraced housing, the risk applies both to the property itself and to neighbouring homes. The risk is, of course, enhanced by the very real possibility of arson attacks. As well as safety issues, the potential for increased use of substandard buildings could affect the health and wellbeing of people seeking sanctuary, for example by removing the standards that apply to the kitchen and bathroom facilities required in relation to numbers of occupants. Limited or no controls over room-sharing may well lead to conflicts between occupants, and to safeguarding dangers. Occupants could be condemned to near cell-like conditions in rooms which (for example) could have no windows. We are also concerned that people seeking sanctuary will potentially be placed into overcrowded rooms in overcrowded housing in neighbourhoods with existing high concentrations of hostel-type accommodation, with potential ramifications for community inclusivity and the safety of people seeking sanctuary. Existing landlords and temporary accommodation providers will be incentivised to switch their properties away from their existing uses to asylum accommodation, which may be more profitable. This could include properties which may not have met HMO standards previously. As well as leading to an increase in substandard properties, this could exacerbate local housing and homelessness pressures, with the potential for people seeking sanctuary to be blamed for causing them. As contracts for asylum will be managed by the Home Office, councils will be much less likely to directly redress poor standards or safety issues. As a result, enforcement action may not take place or could be much slower than under current local HMO licensing arrangements. Councils will no longer receive HMO licensing fees from properties used for asylum accommodation, drastically reducing the funds available for enforcement work. It is worth noting two important elements of HMO licensing: 1. The reason for licensing is that, over decades, HMOs have been shown to be the properties posing greatest risk to health and safety – especially death from fire. As a bare minimum, if the plans go ahead, additional fire safety requirements (over and above those for non-multi-occupied dwellings) should be on the face of the instrument to show explicitly how fire risk will be minimised. 2. Licensing under Part 2 powers is pre-disclosure: councils know where these properties are before they are let, so they can be checked for safety before any incident occurs. Part 1 powers (which local authorities can still use) are only effective if they know where HMOs are; they are dependent on complaints which may not be made (especially given that the occupants are people recently arrived in the UK, who are likely less equipped to navigate local authority complaints systems). We appreciate the need to resolve accommodation issues resulting from the backlog of asylum claims. However, we do not believe that removing HMO licensing controls is the way to proceed. In summary, our concerns are at two levels. One is the danger of failing to liaise with local authorities and the removal of local controls in situations rife with potential problems for community relations. The second, and even more important, is the potential effect on the safety and wellbeing of people seeking sanctuary. The relaxation of standards contrasts sharply with the government’s efforts to enhance building safety more generally and to tackle poor conditions in the private rented sector, which we strongly support. We note that the strain on the asylum accommodation system is partly the result of most people seeking asylum being banned from working, as well as excessive delays in asylum decision-making. The Home Office should address these problems rather than deny people seeking sanctuary the basic accommodation rights that should be afforded to all tenants. We therefore urge you to abandon the planned removal of HMO licensing requirements, and instead to redouble efforts to ensure that asylum accommodation is safe, healthy and secure. Your sincerely, Gavin Smart Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing, on behalf of the following 137 organisations Dr C Wooff, Joint leader, ACAP (Ashton Churches Asylum Project) Duncan McAuley, CEO, Action Foundation Rosie Boyd, Refugee Integration Officer, African Rainbow Family Steve Valdez-Symonds, Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director, Amnesty International UK Giles Peaker, Partner, Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP Anna Rudd, Interim Director, ASSIST Sheffield Ewan Roberts, CEO, Asylum Link Merseyside Mabli Jones, Deputy Director, Asylum Matters Kat Lorenz, Director, Asylum Support Appeals Project Mark Goldring, Director, Asylum Welcome Nadia Hussain, Liaison Worker, Aylesbury Women's Aid Pierre Makhlouf, Legal Director, Bail for Immigration Detainees Emma Hawthorne, Chair, BIRCH (Birmingham Community Hosting) David Brown, Chair, Birmingham City of Sanctuary Mandy Ross, Refugee Support Group member, Birmingham Progressive Synagogue Barbara Forbes, Local lead Birmingham, Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary Dr. Wanda Wyporska, CEO, Black Equity Organisation Ros Holland, Chief Exec, Boaz Trust David Thomas, Legal Officer, Brighton & Hove Housing Coalition Laura Chester, Host Network Manager, Bristol Hospitality Network Hana Cogingsford, Solicitor, Bristol Law Centre Qerim Nuredini, Chief Executive Officer, Bristol Refugee Rights Caroline Gregory, Director, Calais Action Amber Ray, Communications and Engagement Lead, Calderdale Valley of Sanctuary Catharine Walston, Trustee, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign Eleanor Brown, CEO, CARAS Central England Law Centre, Central England Law Centre, Central England Law Centre Tom Martin, Director, City of Sanctuary Sheffield Sian Summers-Rees, Chief Officer, City of Sanctuary UK Toni Soni, Centre Director, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre Sally Hyman, Trustee and founder, Cribs International Matt Downie, CEO, Crisis Fran Wood, Chair of DAR, Darlington Assistance for Refugees Steve Cooke, Chair, Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity Alex Vessis, CEO, Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support Disrupt Foundation, , Karuna, National health advisor, Doctors of the world Penny Hardcastle, Teacher, Farnham help for refugees Joanne Watters, Head of Community Projects, Father Hudson's Care Alan Strang, Volunteer, For Refugees Birminghan Amber Bauer, CEO, forRefugees Anna Pincus, Director, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group Dan Wilson Craw, Acting Director, Generation Rent Jason Tetley, Director, Greater Manchester Law Centre Stephan Morrison, Researcher, Groundswell Rose Nickolds, Housing and Destitution Caseworker, Hackney Migrant Centre Hansen Palomares, Solicitors, Hansen Palomares Madeleine Evans, General Manager, Haringey Migrant Support Centre Lucy Nabijou, Coordinator, Haringey Welcome Polly Gifford, Co-Chair, Hastings Community of Sanctuary Jane Grimshaw, Convener, Hastings Supports Refugees Kerry Smith, Chief Executive, Helen Bamber Foundation Angus Clark, Chief Executive, Herts for Refugees Rosie Carter, Director of policy, HOPE not hate Phil Davis, Director, Hope Projects Simon Mullings, Co-chair, Housing Law Practitioners' Association Sarah Teather, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service UK Lisa Norcross, Project Manager, Kairos Housing Sue Willman, Supervising Solicitor, King's College Legal Clinic Nimrod Ben-Cnaan, Head of Policy and Profile, Law Centres Network Dragica Felja, Head of education, Law for Life Jenny Willison, Trustee/Secretary, Leeds Destitute Asylum-Seekers Support Pete Hobson, Chair, Leicester City of Sanctuary Rosario Guimba-Stewart, CEO, Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network (LRMN) Catherine Pellegrino, Senior Policy Officer, Maternity Action Dr Joanna Dobbin, GP registrar, Medact Sebastian Rocca, Founder and CEO, Micro Rainbow CIC Cllr. Dr. Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini, Co-founder, Migrant Champions Network Lara Parizotto, Co-Director, Migrant Democracy Project Son Olszewski, Caseworker, Migrants Organise Fizza Qureshi, CEO, Migrants' Rights Network Ceri Hutton, Chair, MigrationWork CIC Jane Long, MTVH Migration Foundation Committee Member, MTVH Migration Foundation Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM John Mayford, CEO, Olmec Shelley Meister, Founder, trustee, One and All Aid Salma Ravat, CEO, One Roof Leicester Alex McMahon, Senior Associate, Osbornes Law William Ford, Partner, Osbornes Law Amos Schonfield, CEO, Our Second Home Paul Quinn, Owner, Paul Quinn writing and editing Elaine Fraser, Co Founder, PEOPLE IN MOTION Wren Trevisan, Manager, Phone Credit for Refugees Sally Daghlian OBE, CEO, Praxis Kristine Harris, Policy Coordinator, Project 17 Jean Demars, Director, Public Interest Law Centre Shameem Ahmad, CEO, Public Law Project Nick Beales, Head of Campaigning, RAMFEL Anna Jones, CEO & Co-founder, RefuAid Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action Sarah Fenby Dixon, Trustee, Refugee Aid Network Shari Brown, Partnership and Development Manager, Refugee and Migrant Centre (West Midlands) Shelley Braddock- Overbury, Senior Caseworker, Refugee Asylum Seeker Migrant Action (RAMA) Ruhi Akhtar, CEO / Founder, Refugee Biriyani & Bananas Enver Solomon, CEO, Refugee Council Nick Harborne, CEO, Refugee Support Group Berkshire Nese Davidson-Birch, Supported Lodging Lead, Refugee Welcome Homes Alison Moore, CEO, Refugee Women Connect Mandy Littlewood, Project manager, Refugees & Mentors CIC Sarah Crowther, Director, Refugees in Effective and Active Partnership (REAP Jeremy Thompson, Manager, Restore - a project of Birmingham Churches Together M El Sayed, Research and Advocacy Officer, Rethink Rebuild Caroline Coombs, CEO, Reunite Families UK Derek White, Trustee, Rochdale Action with Destitute Asylum seekers and Refugees Polly Neate, CEO, Shelter Elizabeth Morgan, Trustee/Treasurer, Side by Side Refugees patrick marples, CEO, South West London Law Centres Lucy Parker, Homeless Advice Worker, Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers Robert Rush, Garden coordinator, Southwark Day Centre for Refugees and Asylum Seekers Rebecca Bahar, Solicitor, Southwark Law Centre Liz Needham, Chair of Trustees, St Albans for Refugees Abigail Martin, Manager, St Chad's Sanctuary Becky Hellewell, Head of Support & Immigration, St. Augustine's Centre Stephanie Neville, Project Manager, Stories of Hope and Home Emily Crowley, Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees (STAR) Rachel Balabanoff, Coordinator, The Care Rights Project Alexandra Lopoukhine, Interim Executive Director, The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants Jane Williams, Founder, The Magpie Project Alex Kempton, Director of Operations and Campaigns, The Refugee Buddy Project William Gomes, Director, The William Gomes Podcast Susanne Schuster, Publicity and Events volunteer, Thousand 4 £1000 Sue Hirschler, Volunteer, Thousand for £1000 Susie Dye, Grants Manager, Trust for London Laura Coyle, Partner and Housing Solicitor, Turpin Miller LLP Dania Thomas, Co-Director, Ubuntu Women Shelter Andrew Jackson, Chief Executive, Upbeat Communities Mel Steel, Director, Voices in Exile Marcie Winstanley, Volunteer Coordinator, West End Refugee Service Jason Hussein, Head of Advocacy and Support, West End Refugee Service Joanne MacInnes, Director, West London Welcome Ted Britton, Chair of Trustees, West Yorkshire Destitute Asylum Network (WYDAN) George Reiss, Vice chair, Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary Alphonsine Kabagabo, Director, Women for Refugee Women Debby Wilson, Domestic Abuse Caseworker, Women's Aid Jo Cobley, CEO, Young Roots Valerie Clark, Director, Youth Legal  As a coalition of 175 civil society organisations representing the human rights, migrant, refugee, asylum, anti-slavery and trafficking, children’s, women’s, LGBTQI+, disability rights and other sectors sectors, we call on Parliamentarians to urge the Government to immediately withdraw the ‘Illegal Migration Bill’.
We all deserve to live safe from harm and to be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect. But this shockingly cruel and inhumane Bill turns our country’s back on people fleeing war and persecution, blocking them from protection, support, or justice at a time they need it most. The Bill is effectively a ban on asylum, extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom. It will put people seeking safety and a better life at risk of irreversible harm, with life and death consequences. This Bill attacks the very core of human rights, which is the fundamental belief that we all have human rights regardless of who we are or where we are from. Instead, it separates people into categories of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ of human rights. In stripping the most basic rights from people seeking safety and a better life, the Bill dismantles human rights protections for all of us. The Bill deliberately and unacceptably excludes an entire category of people from the protections guaranteed under our domestic laws and international obligations. It will almost certainly breach multiple international conventions and agreements, including the UN Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT). The Government has acknowledged that it cannot guarantee the Bill will be compatible with the ECHR, a legally binding instrument. The Convention represents the rights and values that we hold dear, including the right to life, protection from slavery and torture, and the right to liberty, which are all threatened by this Bill. Not only does the Bill substantially threaten human rights, it aims to shield the Government from accountability when it does violate those rights by reducing parliamentary and judicial scrutiny. The Bill includes the unprecedented and alarming proposal to disapply Section 3 of the Human Rights Act, which empowers our judges to interpret laws in a way that protects our rights. Without that protection, individuals affected by this Bill are limited from getting justice when their rights are violated. The Bill hands vast delegated powers to the Secretary of State, including the power to amend laws in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, despite the fact that human rights are largely a devolved matter. The Bill would also enable Ministers to ignore interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights – a rare yet vital last resort to halt proceedings like deportations when people’s lives are deemed at risk of extreme and irreversible harm. This Bill would almost certainly be unlawful domestically and internationally. The Bill signals to the international community that the Government intends to commit human rights abuses while evading scrutiny and accountability, setting a dangerous example to other states. More importantly, these cruel and inhumane plans are a stain on our collective moral conscience, attacking the values we cherish as a democratic, rights-respecting society. This Bill is a dangerous piece of legislation that will most certainly lead to irreparable harm, grave suffering, and possible deaths if enacted. We stand united in solidarity with the individuals and families who would be directly harmed, and oppose the Government’s divisive attacks on refugees migrants, victims and survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery, and other people who move. We fiercely reject any attempts to undermine the universality of human rights. We urge all Parliamentarians to urge the Government to withdraw the Bill. Signed:
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RAMFEL (Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London) is a company limited by guarantee (regd in England No. 08737163) and a registered charity (No. 1155207). Registered office: RAMFEL, The People's Place, 80 - 92 High Street, London, E15 2NE.