FOR GUESTS

Are you a homeless refugee or migrant?

Are you in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Berkshire?

Are you supporting someone who is homeless and outside their home country?

Sanctuary Hosting might be able to help with free short-term housing.

Please see our information sheets about how the hosting scheme work:

Introduction to Sanctuary Hosting for prospective guests (English Version)

Introduction to Sanctuary Hosting for prospective guests (Arabic Version)

Introduction to Sanctuary Hosting for prospective guests (Persian Version)

OUR GUESTS

Sanctuary Hosting supports vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who are homeless and cannot return to their home countries.

For our guests who are seeking asylum, getting Home Office accommodation can take time. And if local housing charities get government funding, that restricts them from housing asylum seekers who have no recourse to public funding – so often they can’t help. Hosting can be the ideal stop-gap.

While many refugees can access services such as welfare benefits and local authority support, they can have difficulties finding private housing because of high rents and big deposits. Hosting gives them time to find work and save up, so they can move into their own place.

Vulnerable migrants may have applied to the Home Office for leave to remain but are not able to get public funds, so a lot of housing charities can’t help them either. Homeless migrants in the UK are often left with little or no support … so hosting can be a lifeline while their applications go through.

GUEST ELIGIBILITY

Our guests:

Are either homeless or about to be homeless in the Thames Valley Area (we consider referrals from outside the Thames Valley in exceptional circumstances but require the applicant to travel to the area for an interview)

Are from another country and with a strong reason (other than economic) for not wanting to go back there

Are actively working to resolve their immigration status

Are 18 or over (we don’t house children)

Do not have alcohol or drug problem

Have no history of violence

Do not have a serious mental health condition

Are willing to accept any reasonable accommodation that is offered to them, including Home Office accommodation