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Afghan refugees in UK face homelessness after government evictions – JURIST

Afghan refugees living in the UK are facing homelessness after government-led evictions from hotels, according to local government officials in a statement released Friday.Refugees who are unable to find long-term housing will become homeless. One in five Afghans leaving hotels were reported as homeless anecdotally, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). These figures varies geographically across the UK. Councillor Shaun Davies, Chair of LGA said that the situation is “likely to worsen significantly” as the Home Office stops the scheme of funded hotels, causing “disruption and distress for families”.In combination with the some 104,510 households in temporary accommodations, local government councils are expected to come under significant pressure. The UK is also currently witnessing an acute shortage of housing, raised by LGA when the government made the announcement as a potential challenge to the change in policy.LGA argued that it may “simply pass costs and responsibility from government to councils,” encouraging a joint solution to reduce the risk of homelessness posed to Afghan refugees.All 8,000 Afghans living in hotels currently were served with eviction notices by the end of May. Updated figures on this number are due to published. The Government provided a minimum of 3 months’ notice to refugees to support the process of finding long-term housing. £285 million of new funding has been provided to support the process of resettlement.Johnny Mercer MP, Government Minister for Veterans’ Affairs committed to ending access to hotels in March 2023, describing how they “were never designed to be a permanent solution” as an “unacceptable and unsustainable solution”.Afghan families came to the UK following the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021. The Afghan Resettlement Scheme formally opened in January 2022 and prioritized the relocation of Afghans supporting UK efforts in Afghanistan. To date around 24,600 individuals have been brought to safety under the scheme.