Housing offer for all residents who engage after a positive asylum decision. Complete wrap around approach that puts residents at the heart of it. Work begins when residents receive a positive asylum decision, the case is picked up by YHN’s Refugee Move On Team – (YHN is Newcastle’s Council Housing provider). The Refugee Move On Team works to secure accommodation during the 28 days until a resident’s NTQ from Mears.

If the resident is successful in securing a tenancy with YHN then the Refugee Move On Team support them to move in and get settled in their new home. If the resident is unsuccessful (this can happen for a number of reasons such as due to the size of property needed) then the household is offered Temporary Accommodation until a permanent alternative can be found. Newcastle’s temporary accommodation provision can be split depending on whether the household is a family or a single person.

For families, the Council has Cherry Tree View, the statutory emergency accommodation as well as eight units of Temporary Dispersed Accommodation in the community (the Council hopes to grow this before the end of the year). For singles, they have space at CTV for the most vulnerable and then spaces in supported accommodation across the city for everyone else.

Alongside the support of the Refugee Move On Team there is also the Local Authority Asylum Seeker Liaison Officers (LAASLOs) and the Refugee Transitions and Integration Officers (RTIOs), they can pick up residents who are still seeking asylum as well as those who have received a decision. They offer support to do everything from register for a GP practice to supporting residents to access housing that is not part of YHN’s stock, such as Private Rented or Housing Associations like Home Group.

This was a collaboration between housing providers in the city and the Asylum team at the City Council.