New Asylum Seeker Housing Plans Announced by Home Office

By Veronica Pembleton

It has been announced that the Home Office is re-evaluating the national ‘dispersal’ scheme after calls from local councils that it is not operating fairly enough. If successful, it should result in refugees being dispersed more evenly across different areas of Britain.
This is a scheme that first came to fruition in 1999 as a method to handle the increase in asylum seeker applications. Initially, the scheme was introduced as a measure to combat the large number of migrants that were settling in London and the South East of England. The primary aim of the scheme was to relieve the financial costs and burdens in the affected areas as residents and councils were finding issues such as jobs and housing were being over ran. This would be achieved by relocating the migrants to other areas of the UK to stop there being a large settlement in one specific area.

Last year Britain received the highest number of applications for asylum within the country for over a decade. In 2015 Britain received a total of 29,000 applications, which was the highest number of application since 2005 when there were a staggering 30,314. In comparison to 2014, the amount of applications in within the year had risen by 4,700 – the statistics are yet to be published but following the effects of Brexit, this will have dramatically increased further.

The calculation used by authorities at the moment is based on one refugee for every 200 residents. With the continued issues in Calais with Asylum Seekers, these new plans to benefit the scheme have never been more necessary than they are now. It has even caused Robert Goodwill, the UK immigration minister, to make a plea for more local councils to accommodate for the spike in numbers.

Calls for a policy review have been building for years now as Asylum Seekers are being mainly designated to poorest areas of the country where unemployment and benefit dependent living is at a high. The largest number of asylum seekers in one region of Britain is currently in the North-West and this figure sits at 7,916. With the total being so high, when you look to compare this with the South-East region - where there are just 471 - you can see how this distribution is being deemed unfair by the people and leaders of the councils. The result of these statistics have forced Keith Raz, who is chairman of the committee, to comment on how unjust the current situation is.

Sarah Rapson who is an immigration specialist and the director general of UK visas and immigration, has also called for a review stating that she would ‘Like more local authorities to participate because that would ease the system’. Following the panic that came after Brexit and the recurring issues with asylum seekers, this call for change brings reassurance for migrants and the British people who live in the affected areas.

Veronica Pembleton is a freelance writer and research journalist, who specializes in a number of core areas, including current affairs, law, and business. Through studying journalism at university, Veronica was introduced to a number of cases in different industries, where she was able to build her portfolio of feature articles.