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Housing associations urge Serco to rethink asylum seeker evictions plan
Scottish housing associations have called on private housing provider Serco to rethink its plans to evict hundreds of asylum seekers in Glasgow.
The public services giant leases flats from social landlords to house people attempting to claim refugee status in the UK, with the rent paid by the Home Office.
It has begun the process of seeking repossession orders on more than 300 flats where the tenants’ application for asylum has been refused by the government, as well as sending seven-day lock change notices to some households.
Sajid Javid, home secretary, has been urged to intervene by Glasgow City Council and a group of seven MPs who warned the evictions “will trigger a humanitarian crisis in Glasgow, leaving an estimated 300 already vulnerable men, women and children destitute”.
Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, said: “We are concerned now that Serco is in danger of putting profit before people, failing to work within the spirit of the law, and letting down vulnerable households in the support and inadequate time they need to make alternative housing arrangements.
“Serco leases many of the homes they provide to asylum seekers from housing associations in Glasgow; speaking on behalf of members, we would be concerned if even lawful evictions were done in such a way that was inhumane and put vulnerable households on the streets, without support.
“We urge Serco to reflect on its plans and comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the law and work with relevant support organisations to make sure its work is done in a completely legal and humane way.”
Serco would not disclose which housing associations own the flats involved.
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In 2010, a family of three who had been seeking asylum died after falling from Glasgow’s famous Red Road flats the day they were told to leave their Home Office accommodation in what is believed to have been a suicide pact.
Robina Qureshi, director of refugee homelessness charity Positive Action in Housing, said she has contacted Serco to ask whether the tenants will be evicted through legal proceedings or whether locks will be changed without a court order.
She added: “I would also urge all social housing landlords who are leasing flats to Serco to challenge the UK Government’s hostile environment by preventing any evictions without court orders or coercion of vulnerable people to leave by Serco turning up at people’s doors or carrying out lock changes in social housing stock leased to Serco.”
Serco said the people affected “no longer have the right to stay in the UK”, and that it has been housing them for free at its own expense since their asylum claims were rejected, “in many cases for many months”.
Jenni Halliday, contract director of Serco’s asylum seeker housing operation Compass, said: “While we are sympathetic to their plight, we believe we have been more than supportive of these individuals by providing them with an additional period of housing in which to make alternative arrangements but we cannot continue to provide free housing indefinitely.
“As they no longer have any right to continue to live in the property we provide. [sic] We have therefore started legal proceedings to repossess our properties.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute are provided with free, fully furnished accommodation while applications are considered. We also cover utility costs and provide a cash allowance to cover other essential living needs.
“While an asylum claim is outstanding, we would not be seeking removal. Even if an asylum claim has failed, we will provide accommodation for those who would otherwise be destitute and who are temporarily unable to leave the UK because of a practical or legal obstacle.
“However it is right that we prepare for someone’s removal if they do not have a lawful basis to stay in the UK and they are not pursuing an appeal.”
