Councils in Yorkshire and Humberside could face a huge shortfall in Supporting People funds because refugees are choosing to settle there after dispersal.
The region's housing professionals have warned that the area lacks integration services for asylum seekers and more money is needed to help manage tenancies and counselling. The growing number of successful applicants settling in the region, particularly in Sheffield and Leeds, is exacerbating the problem.

Sheffield council has allocated £850,000 of its Supporting People budget – 5% of the total – to projects involving asylum seekers. But it is understood that this figure does not take account of growing demand for specific services.

Yorkshire and Humberside already tops the list of regions with the most asylum seekers in accommodation funded by the National Asylum Support Service – more than 10,300 in March 2003. Roughly half of applicants in the area receive positive decisions – a high proportion compared with other regions. Yorkshire and Humberside Asylum Seekers' Consortium believes up to 7000 will stay in the region this year.

Asylum seekers are a potential asset but the need to help them is not being taken into account

Tony Stacey, South Yorkshire HA

Tony Stacey is chief executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association, a partner in Safe Haven, which is contracted by NASS to house more than 3000 asylum seekers. He said the "penny is starting to drop" about the inadequacy of Supporting People funding. "It's now recognised that asylum seekers are a potential asset to the region," he said. "There is a need to provide social housing and help asylum seekers access services, but that is not being taken into account [by Supporting People]."

Richard Palmer, programme manager for Sheffield's asylum seeker team, said demand for services such as the council's floating tenancy support could "balloon". Palmer has set up a Communities Homefinders team with £150,000 of funds earmarked for tackling homelessness.

Source

Housing Today