Greater Manchester leaders oppose govt policy on evicting asylum seekers

The regions’ leaders – Mayor Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor Bev Hughes and the 10 council leaders – have written to the Home Secretary, expressing concern that evicted asylum seekers could become homeless

Greater Manchester’s leaders have issued an open statement to the Home Office about its eviction policy regarding asylum seekers.

The regions’ leaders – Mayor Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor Bev Hughes and the 10 council leaders – have written to the Home Secretary, expressing concern that asylum seekers who have received a negative decision could start to be evicted from accommodation.

In September, the Guardian reported that thousands of asylum seekers facing removal from the UK were being accommodated in hotels, and evictions of refused asylum seekers would take place “with immediate effect.”

Greater Manchester’s leaders say the timing of the policy is “of grave concern” due to the harsh winter months and ongoing infection rates from Covid-19.

They add: “Working with people who have been victimised, trafficked, moved from one end of the country to another as part of an asylum system that has often failed them means building trust can be hard. This is why we will not be complicit in Home Office policies which seek to deport people because they have found themselves destitute and street homeless. It will not eradicate rough sleeping; it will only serve to make extremely vulnerable people more so by pushing them further away from the services and support they so desperately need."

“During our response to Covid-19 we have managed to do things differently, protecting people from rough sleeping and destitution, irrespective of immigration status. The government must not resume evictions for those with a negative decision at a time when the risks of Covid-19 and of rough sleeping and destitution remain.”

Greater Manchester, which has a large number of rough sleepers, does accommodate and support people with No Recourse to Public Funds (like asylum seekers whose cases have been refused) through the A Bed Every Night scheme, a systematic approach to tackle homelessness.

In November 2017, the housing charity Shelter found one in every 154 people across Greater Manchester is homeless,  whilst the Manchester street count – a single night snapshot of people sleeping rough – has risen by 34%.

The world's leading human rights organisation, Amnesty International says seeking asylum is a human right, and everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.