Refugee homelessness and the UK response to world crises 

Effects of the shorter move-on period for most refugees 

Labour’s abrupt return to the 28-day move-on period in September is pushing vulnerable people into rough sleeping and exposing them to fraud and abuse, says Chaminda Jayanetti in The Lead. The change to a shorter period affects most single refugees (families and “vulnerable” people are still eligible for the 56-day notice period).  

The change is making homeless refugees “targets for the far right”, Jayanetti argues. Not only is the changed move-on period too short, but refugees in London are then being offered homelessness placements in the North or Midlands, which they are refusing because of the greater risk of suffering racial attacks. “Once councils have withdrawn their help, refugees are left to try to rent privately — and become vulnerable to fraud,” she reports. 

Over 60 organisations, including CIH, wrote to the home secretary in October, opposing the September change in the move-on period. After receiving a negative response, NACCOM and Homeless Link put together a further reply to government, which you can read here. This second letter has now received a reply from Home Office minister Alex Norris, which you can read here. There is not a great deal of new information in the new letter, other than a commitment to publish the evaluation of the 56-day pilot in “spring 2026”. 

The 56-day pilot (for families and “vulnerable” people only), due to end in December, has now been extended to the end of January. A blog on the Homeless Link website summarises recent developments. 

Temporary relief from the shorter move-on period 

Solicitors Deighton Pierce Glynn brought judicial review proceedings challenging the move back to a 28-day period for single people and sought interim relief to prevent evictions, including one claim in which generic relief was sought on behalf of all newly recognised refugees affected by the pause. 

As a result, a temporary concession was granted by the home secretary, but only until 16 January. Up to that date, asylum accommodation and subsistence support could be extended for up to 56 days from the grant of leave to remain where an individual would otherwise be at imminent risk of street homelessness. An estimated 3,000 people who would otherwise have been evicted during this period were eligible for extensions if they would otherwise face street homeless. 

The full background and details of how this temporary relief operated are available from DPG. 

Local authority housing fund — Round 4 announced 

In November, the government published the prospectus and guidance for the Local Authority Housing Fund: Round 4. The £950 million in government funding for the fourth round will help councils in England increase their supply of better-quality temporary accommodation for families with children. The fund will also provide sustainable settled housing for some families on the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP). The programme will run over four financial years — 2026/27 through to 2029/30 — and there will be £10 million in revenue funding to support the delivery of the fund. 

European cities pioneer solutions for refugee housing 

The Housing Rights website’s Sue Lukes writes for MigrationWork about three European cities (Dortmund, Gothenburg and Vienna) that are developing ways to enable refugees to move into longer-term, adequate housing. 

Responding to world crises — a positive appraisal of UK’s response to Ukrainian refugees 

A British Red Cross report looks at the experience of assisting Ukrainians in the UK and concludes that the speed, flexibility and accessibility of the UK’s response was novel and offered a route to safety. 

Also: 

• Community networks helped people displaced from Ukraine feel welcome 
• Children’s education provided vital stability and supported community integration 
• While widely accessed, English language classes and employment support did not meet everyone’s needs 
• Most respondents hope to remain in the UK if possible 
• Short-term visas and a lack of information limited opportunities and created uncertainty.  

The report recommends: 

1. Secure long-term visa pathways for Ukrainians and other displaced people that offer the stability to integrate and real choice about their futures 
2. Uphold family unity in responses to forced displacement, supporting both access to safety and integration 
3. Develop a national strategy for displaced people that better coordinates and sustainably funds integration support, including improved language learning and employment support
4. Create a Displacement Response Framework, built on lessons from the Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria responses, which is ready to activate in future emergencies.   

A Birmingham University report — titled Displaced Ukrainians in the UK — Experiences and Future Intentions — also looks at these issues and calls for a five-year pathway to permanent residence. 

More on world crises  

• The Home Office has restarted processing of Syrian settlement applications. Free Movement has guidance on what this means. “Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes,” says the Guardian. 
• Melissa Pawson, reporting from the Mediterranean, tells openDemocracy that Europe is paying Libya to torture migrants on its behalf. 
• Free Movement has updated its review of the (limited) ‘safe and legal routes’ for people to reach the UK.