A new report by the Scottish Refugee Council has identified serious and widespread problems with the quality of accommodation provided to people seeking asylum in Scotland.
You can read the report here.
The housing of asylum seekers in Scotland under the Government's COMPASS contract is currently run by Serco and then sub-contracted to the property management company Orchard and Shipman.
The report finds:
• People have sometimes been put in unsuitable housing indicating insufficient consideration has been given to their needs and histories of persecution.
• People seeking asylum who are housed in Scotland are experiencing problems with the physical condition and amenities in their accommodation.
• These problems are having an adverse impact on asylum seekers in terms of their mental and physical health and ability to maintain social connections.
• Front-line staff in external agencies report having to intervene to advocate with housing providers on behalf of asylum seekers to resolve these issues.
• People seeking asylum have low awareness of their rights and entitlements and compounding this some were reluctant to complain for fear that it may affect their asylum claim.
The Scottish Refugee Council says that its findings raise wider questions about the general functioning of COMPASS in Scotland as well as about the adequacy of monitoring and contract compliance practice by the Home Office, Serco, and Orchard and Shipman, to ensure appropriate standards and services for asylum seekers in housing.
Common problems identified in the report included:
• a lack of adequate heating or hot water
• filthy or infested properties
• no locks on doors
• families having to share accommodation with strangers
• a lack of respect shown by housing provider staff towards asylum seekers
Scottish Refugee Council Acting Chief Executive Gary Christie called the breadth and severity of the examples of accommodation problems detailed in the report "shocking".
He said: "We are sure that they mirror wider, endemic problems with asylum accommodation across the UK as a whole. As it has been two and a half years since Serco acquired the government contract to provide accommodation services, the problems that we have found are clearly not just transitional."
The Scottish Refugee Council recommended an urgent and comprehensive review of the asylum accommodation contract in Scotland, and further UK Parliamentary scrutiny of asylum accommodation provision, with a view to an overhaul of the system to make it fit for purpose.
"We would urge the Home Office and accommodation providers to treat asylum seekers as human beings and to provide housing that genuinely supports their needs, as well as making them aware of their rights and actually listening and responding adequately to any problems they might experience," Gary Christie said.