This can be used by any organisation trying to cope with the flow of enquiries:
“Thank you so much for your very kind offer of hosting. It’s really appreciated. I apologise that this is a generic response to your request – we have been inundated with wonderful offers of help, but can’t respond to them all individually.
If you are offering to specifically house new refugee arrivals in the UK, you need to know that it is unlikely that the UK will be taking in any refugees direct from Europe. The Prime Minister has pledged to take 20,000 Syrian refugees direct from refugee camps in the Middle East over a period of five years, and is relying on local authorities to find places for them. That may be with host families, but it will not be a quick process. The UK pledged to take 2,000 from those camps in 2013, and up to now we have only taken 216, so unless there is huge pressure on government to change policy, many offers of help will not be taken up.
If you want to urge the government to do more, there are a number of good petitions being circulated. Hundreds of thousands have signed up already. You can find them on change.org , 38 degrees and avaaz
Apologies if you already know this, but those who come to the UK and claim asylum (31,000 in total last year) are given accommodation while their case is being heard. That means that there is little opportunity to accommodate them in host families, except for some unaccompanied minors, who may be placed in foster families. If you are interested in doing that, please contact your local social services for information. Home for Good is an excellent initiative working with churches to place children in families, including refugee children.
If you are willing to consider hosting asylum seekers whose claims have been refused and who are homeless and destitute in the UK, then you can check out the NACCOM website for your nearest local project. There are hosting schemes operating in many towns and cities in the UK. If you live in an area where there are asylum seekers, but there is no hosting scheme, and you would like to find out how to set one up, please contact me again.
Alternatively you may want to check out the Positive Action in Housing website. They are compiling a database of people offering accommodation, so that there is a coordinated response if and when refugees are let in to the UK. They may also be able to find you a refugee guest before that happens. MyRefuge is an exciting project based on the AirBnB principle but not involving any a financial cost to refugees. At the same time Citizens UK is proposing the creation of a National Welcome and Resettlement Board.
There are ongoing discussions amongst the various organisations trying to coordinate the response, which will hopefully ensure that they work together in partnership and avoid unnecessary duplication of schemes to help refugees in crisis.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Please get in touch again if not!”