The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (hact) have launched the first housing rights website to be specifically aimed at answering housing entitlement queries for new migrants to England.
Visitors to the site are able enter as either frontline housing advisers or new arrivals to receive advice and guidance about their housing rights, including the law on eligibility for social housing and related welfare benefits. The site includes sections on the specific housing rights of new migrants who are: refugees, EEA workers and other EEA nationals and family members, A8 nationals, Bulgarians and Romanians, work permit holders, people fleeing domestic violence and people with social care needs. Visitors are also be able to select links to relevant documents and websites, including DWP and the Home Office.
Arten Llazari, Manager of the Refugee & Migrant Centre based in Wolverhampton, said: “This website is easy to use and extremely timesaving. It will prove an essential tool for all agencies providing housing advice and assistance to refugees and new migrants. Our advisers already have it on their PC favorites list!”
Cecilia Ngeze, a refugee based in London, said: “I found the site very straight forward, well arranged and informative. It gave me lots of new information that I didn’t know before hand. I gave my friend details for the site and it helped her find answers to a difficult housing situation.”
Sarah Walker, a housing officer at Staffordshire Housing Association, said: “The website is easy to use and informative. It provides up-to-date, relevant information for housing professionals and people seeking accommodation which hopefully will make the process less confusing for all concerned. It is certainly a website that we will be using on a regular basis.”
The site was developed as part of the joint hact/CIH Opening Doors project, which is funded by Communities and Local Government and the Housing Corporation, and is testing practical ways that housing associations can meet the housing needs of refugees, asylum seekers and other newly arrived migrant communities.
Heather Petch, hact’s Director, said: “This website fills an information gap and will do much to combat some of the informal gatekeeping that can occur as a result of opinion, rather than fact. It also unravels the complex and often misunderstood position regarding areas such as access to local authority waiting lists and how the law affects access to housing association stock.”
John Perry, CIH Policy Adviser, said: “One of the commonest problems that housing professionals meet in dealing with housing inquiries from migrants from abroad is knowing whether they have any entitlement to housing or homelessness assistance, and whether they are eligible for housing benefit. This web resource should fill this gap - and we hope that it will help to ensure that migrants get the help to which they are entitled.”
Two other sets of resources from the Opening Doors project are also available:
• a review of recent studies and reports about national and local programmes and projects working with new migrants, especially EU migrants (downloadable at www.hact.org.uk and www.cih.org/policy/openingdoors);
• a set of 10 training modules on refugee and new migrant housing issues (downloadable at www.hact.org.uk and www.cih.org/policy/openingdoors).
ENDS
Opening Doors is supported by Communities and Local Government and the Housing Corporation.
Issued on behalf of hact and CIH.
For CIH comment, please contact: Jill Dwyer, Media Relations Officer, CIH Press Office, Octavia House, Westwood Way, Coventry CV4 8JP. Telephone 024 7685 1780. Fax: 024 7642 1756. Mob: 07786 716961. E-mail: press@cih.org
For hact comment, please contact: Vicky Macleod, Communications Officer, Hact, 50 Banner Street, London EC1Y 8ST Tel: 020 7247 7800. Fax: 020 7247 2212. E-mail: vicky.macleod@hact.org.uk
Notes to editors
1 The address for the housing rights website is: www.housing-rights.info
2 Hact (Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust) pioneers housing solutions for people on the margins. We identify emerging need, in order to develop, test and promote practical solutions for social inclusion. We act as a bridge between housing associations and the wider Third Sector, working through partnerships and networks. Further information about hact is available at www.hact.org.uk
3 The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is the professional body for people involved in housing and communities. We are a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation. We have a diverse and growing membership of over 21,000 – both in the public and private sectors – living and working in over 20 countries on five continents across the world. Our members work for local authorities, housing associations, Arms Length Management Organisations, Government bodies, educational establishments and the private sector. Many tenants and residents are also members. We exist to maximise the contribution that housing professionals make to the wellbeing of communities. Further information is available at: www.cih.org
4 The six housing association groups involved in Opening Doors are:
Accent Group working with Horton HA, Bradford Community Housing Trust and Manningham HA
Accord Housing Group with the Matrix Housing Partnership
First Wessex Housing Group
Longhurst Homes working with Tuntum HA
St. Vincent's HA
Staffordshire HA working with Blue Mountain HA
5 The reports and training modules are available to download at: www.hact.org.uk/downloads.asp?PageId=173 and http://www.cih.org/policy/openingdoors/
6 Housing and Support Services for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and other New Migrants - A good practice guide, John Perry, Published by CIH, in partnership with hact, for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2005, is available to order from http://www.cih.org/publications/pub357.htm .
