Home Office Announce New Asylum Seeker Housing Plans

The home office has recently disclosed new developments under the national dispersal scheme, alongside local authorities and overseas investors with Tier 1 Visas, with the goal to support asylum seekers when they look for a residence to stay in the UK. The scheme was brought about in 1999, as a step towards the solution to manage a surge in asylum seeker applications; it effectively relocated migrants to other areas of the UK to avert a build of asylum seekers in one specific area. It therefore helped to alleviate economic costs for local councils and housing pressures in London and nearby areas.

Surge of migrants

Nowadays, the authorities that are associated with the national dispersal scheme take on asylum seekers with the ratio of one migrant per every 200 residents. 2015 broke the record for the highest number of migrants in over a decade, reaching 29,000 applications. It’s not just the UK that has been struggling to manage an increase of migrants in specific locations; it was well reported last year that Calais had an influx of 5000 migrants from countries with civil unrest like Somalia and Syria – and this group was trying to move into the UK as well. This is why there has been a recent resurgence to improve the situation from Immigration Minister, Robert Goodwill.

Disproportionate country disposal

Moreover, another factor that has accelerated further changes in policy is due to the fact that many asylum seekers haven’t been receiving the best treatment. A large volume of migrants previously had been dispersed to the poorest locations of the UK, with high levels of unemployment and benefit dependent living. At the moment, the North-West has the largest volume of migrants by a huge margin: 7916 are currently based in the region, compared to only 471 in the South-East. Ultimately all these issues have motivated local authorities to make it a priority to tackle the disproportionate country dispersal. After the events of Brexit, this strong request for change is an encouraging development for migrants.