Agenda item

To consider the following Motion referred by the Council to the Housing Policy Development Group:

“That this Council supports the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Scheme as detailed below and commits to working with the private sector to achieve placements.”

The Scheme has been developed since September 2015 having evolved from a number of earlier Gateway Scheme. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer people to the scheme, based on a criteria set by the UK. This currently prioritises those who cannot be supported effectively in their region of origin: women, children and young people at risk, people in severe need of medical care and survivors of torture and violence, refugees with legal and/or physical protection needs; refuges with medical needs or disabilities; persons at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity; and refugees with family links in resettlement countries. Most beneficiaries of the scheme will currently be living in Turkey, Jordan and Syria, though not all in designated refugee camps.

The UNHCR conducts a series of checks including a robust identification process prior to referring a refugee to the UK Scheme. Referrals are then further screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK. The Home Office checks that they meet eligibility criteria and carries out medical and security checks.

By the time a UNHCR referred refugee arrives in the UK they have been through a thorough two stage vetting process to ensure government knows who is entering the country. This includes the taking of biometrics, documentary evidence and interviews.

What this means in practice – Local authorities can choose whether to participate in the scheme. Participating Local Authorities pass offers of suitable accommodation to the Home Office who then match available accommodation to a refugee family. Case information is exchanged including details of family make up, age and specific needs. The Local Authority is asked to confirm whether it can accommodate and support those specific cases, having consulted key local agencies.

On accepting to arrange resettlement, local authorities then need to co-ordinate activity to ensure that provision and support needed under the terms of the scheme is available and ready to access. Refugees will be granted a five year humanitarian protection visa. Refugees will have a National Insurance number, access to UK benefits and the right to work. Housing benefit will fund accommodation costs initially.

We would expect that in the vast majority of cases refugees will want to stay in the area of the UK in which they have been resettled. However refugees are free to move elsewhere in the UK if they choose. If a refugee and their family wish to move to another part of the UK after their initial arrival, under the terms of the scheme, they will no longer be entitled to accommodation that had been allocated and they will no longer have resettlement support in the authority in which they were first placed. The scheme will continue to run alongside other resettlement schemes and other asylum procedures.

The scheme depends on finding suitable accommodation that is aligned to the current requirements of local housing authorities and that can be paid for initially through existing housing benefit allocation. The scheme sets out o resettle refugees not simply to shelter them. Accommodation must be suitable for families to live safe, independent and productive lives, just as local authorities would aim to provide for any homeless family.

Clearly housing costs and availability varies considerably across the County and whilst there is capacity in most parts of the County to support resettlement, this has to be aligned to affordable and available accommodation. Whilst some very rural parts of Devon may provide suitable accommodation opportunities, this needs to be balanced with meeting the anticipated wider needs of resettled refugees, i.e. access to schools, healthcare, cultural, religious and support networks as required alongside opportunities for employment.

The County Council recognises that expertise of supporting refugees (alongside those seeking asylum and dealing with wider migration issues) largely sits in other organisations, largely within the voluntary and community sector. It is therefore the intention to support a number of voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver much of the Syrian Scheme on behalf of the wider partnership. Refugee Support Devon will be playing a leading and significant part in this, but it is anticipated that other groups may also be able to take a role at a community level as resettlement develops across the County.

Until families have begun to be safely and successfully resettled, we do not intend to make public announcements with regards to the arrival date or destination of refugee families.

Accommodation continues to be difficult to source locally and there are concerns that commitments from local Housing Authorities (currently to resettle up to 70 families over the course of the scheme) will not be met as a result. We will soon commission a short film and publicity aimed at local current and potential landlords to highlight the Scheme and its opportunities for them and the wider community.

Please note: Having considered the above Motion and the briefing paper attached the Policy Development Group are asked to consider whether this Motion should either be supported or rejected. The decision will be referred back to full Council on 26 October 2016.

At Council on 31 August 2016 the following Motion was referred to the Homes Policy Development Group for its consideration.

Motion 527 (Councillors Mrs J Binks, Mrs J Roach, Mrs N Woollatt and R Wright)

“That this Council supports the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Scheme as detailed below and commits to working with the private sector to achieve placements.”

The proposers of the Motion had been invited to the meeting to speak to their Motion and made the following comments:

·         Mr Conyngham had precisely expressed the depth of good feeling and desire to work sensibly with private landlords.

·         The Queen Elizabeth Academy Trust were keen to involve young students and for them to gain work experience in this area.

·         The local community had a record of working with refugees over the past 100 years and there had been a consistent outpouring of hospitality and welcoming through that time.

·         This was a matter of humanity.

·         The ‘Welcoming Refugees in Crediton’ group were a voluntary organisation that had managed to galvanise opinion in the area.

·         This was an all party Motion and party politics would not feature in any voting decision.

·         Other local authorities in the area seemed to be further along in the process of housing refugees.

A briefing paper * had been included with the agenda to provide background information to the issue and the following points from the briefing paper were reiterated:

·         The ‘Yorkshire Migration’ document referred to within the paper provided an excellent template for the processes that would be expected.

·         The key part of the paper had been the considerations towards the end which had presented the facts in relation to the practicalities involved.

·         Other neighbouring local authorities had only just started to house refugees or were in the process of the preparatory work.

Discussion took place regarding:

·         Ideally, housing should take place within the three towns or communities where there was significant infrastructure and support (such as being on a reliable bus route) otherwise rural isolation might become a factor.

·         The number of refugee families being offered accommodation would depend on the number of private landlords coming forward. The Group were reminded that there were restrictions on the amount of rent that could be charged therefore some landlords may not be interested.

·         Private landlords should be directed to the Housing Options Team who could provide relevant information.

·         Groups from within the voluntary sector would also be interested in providing accommodation not just private landlords.

(Proposed by Cllr Mrs H Bainbridge and seconded by Cllr G Doe)

Note: * Briefing Paper previously circulated; copy attached to the signed      minutes.