Sanctuary Hosting in the news
For interview requests, comments and any other media enquiries, please get in touch with the
Sanctuary Hosting office: email info@sanctuaryhosting.org or phone 07926 930848.
For interview requests, comments and any other media enquiries, please get in touch with the
Sanctuary Hosting office: email info@sanctuaryhosting.org or phone 07926 930848.
Three people who have given up a spare room share their stories – and offer advice to anyone hoping to do the same for Ukrainian guests
Click here to read more – What I learnt when I took in refugees
Click here to watch the interview.
Alison Baxter, Chair of Trustees and experienced host, talks to Stephen Nolan about the experience of hosting a refugee and the support offered by Sanctuary Hosting’s staff and volunteer support workers.
As Afghans flee their country in the wake of the Taliban takeover, CNN reporter Nada Bashir talks to Alison Baxter, our Chair of Trustees, and hosts, Kate and Richard Delacour, about Sanctuary Hosting’s vital work in providing temporary accommodation in the Thames Valley for refugees fleeing war and conflict zones.
Alison Baxter, Chair of Trustees and experienced host, talks to Lily Mitchell about the experience of opening up her home to a refugee in need and how she and her guest are supported by Sanctuary Hosting.
Can we gain a fairer society after pandemic?
This pandemic is highlighting profound gaps in UK’s social security net. Rapidly, the government has opened up services for all to keep the public safe. Sanctuary Hosting, a charity based in Oxford, is familiar with one major gap – housing for people who are homeless, seeking safety in the UK and cannot access statutory housing. Local authorities must now help everyone without a home, regardless of their immigration status. But healthcare access for all remains a challenge. On 29 January, the government announced that no charge would be made to an overseas visitor for treatment of COVID 19. In recent weeks, immigration detention centres are emptying to safeguard inmates and workers within the centres. With each step we move closer to a society where everyone can access vital services to keep the public as a whole safe from COVID 19.
By bringing these problems to the surface, we are facing up to how UK social policy prevents certain groups from accessing vital services. Campaign groups are calling for undocumented migrants and those waiting for a decision from the Home Office to be given permission to stay. On 2nd April 2020, Portugal temporarily granted all migrants and asylum seekers currently in the country access to the same services as citizens for the duration of the crisis, without actually making them permanent citizens. Could the UK follow suit?
British Citizens have much greater rights and entitlements than people with visas or asylum claims. For those denied permission to be in the UK, they face social exclusion; unable to work, rent or access non urgent healthcare without paying. The only hope to be included into society is to navigate the UK’s immigration rules and try to be granted ‘leave to remain’. The immigration rules themselves
are notoriously impenetrable and ever-changing making them highly complex, even for those professionals who dedicate their li
ves to understanding them. The fees for each application have risen hugely in the last 10 years, as has the complexity of the forms themselves often requiring legal counsel which is also costly. Home Office decision-making is drawn out, with many people only getting their rights recognised on appeal. Therefore, even with all the will in the world to get regular immigration status, many remain socially marginalised.
Unless vital services are opened to all, we will struggle to beat this pandemic. To quote Doctors of the World, “public health is successful when you include everyone”. The government is talking to the public more openly than ever about these issues, via daily television announcements, online Home affairs select committees and numerous letters and even Home Office blogs. There is an increasing interconnection and collaboration between the work of local government, community groups and charities. These are all positives. Can we all work to make these socially inclusive policies stick? We at Sanctuary Hosting are holding out hope that as each statutory system is opened up, the UK safety net is getting mended one hole at a time, making it better for all of us in the long term.
If you would like to volunteer as a support worker or host with Sanctuary Hosting, or make a donation to help them continue their work, please visit www.sanctuaryhosting.org or call Service Assistant, Fiona, on 07926 930848.
Sanctuary Hosting matches destitute asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants to people in the community with spare rooms