Refugee body ends emergency shelter

The Refugee Council will no longer be providing emergency
accommodation to newly arrived asylum seekers in London, it emerged
last week.

The charity will refer all new asylum seekers to either Migrant
Helpline or the Refugee Arrivals Project for emergency
accommodation from 30 November.

However, those who remain in the council’s existing accommodation
will continue to be accommodated.

“We believe that in the long term our expertise is better applied
providing high quality advice services and supporting refugees to
settle in London,” the charity stated.

When it took on the contract with the National Asylum Support
Service in April 2000 to provide emergency accommodation in London,
it was anticipated that it would provide around 500 units for
people staying between seven and 10 days. However, due to
difficulties with dispersal, this number rapidly increased to more
than 4,500 people.