Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

MEARS is a huge company and cover literally hundreds of thousands of council properties. Their vans are everywhere .

I haven't lived near one, but I have had 2 female refugee clients who were accommodated in hotels until they got refugee status because there was no other suitable accommodation for women. One was still a child, and was with her mother and siblings. The lone woman was raped by another asylum seeker, the other was scared to leave her room, along with the rest of her family.

This was at least 10 years ago though, so things may have changed. I'd like to think that there is specific, safe accommodation for unaccompanied women and children seeking asylum.

Once they got refugee status, they were accommodated by members of a local refugee support group until they were allocated social housing. They were eligible for social housing because they were both in "priority need" on grounds of vulnerability. Their experiences had been so appalling that their mental health was totally fucked.

One has done really well, is working, off benefits and everything, I don't think the other will ever recover from her experiences. I bump into her occasionally and she's really struggling, her mental health is totally shot.

Women are more likely to come to the UK through other routes, usually with families. I've worked in homeless accommodation where we took families in once asylum had been granted, lots of women and young children.

Many of the men who travel to the UK spend up to a year on these journeys, with the family paying smugglers for the first step, and then working and living illegally in different countries to fund the next stages, and spending time in places like the 'jungle' in Calais. You can imagine why families would pick a healthy young male to send on that journey rather than a single woman, or woman with young children.

What is shared attic space

I don’t doubt that living next door to such a place can cause problems, including many of the problems OP mentions.

I don’t believe for a second this thread is genuine though. There is no way in hell anyone knows this level of detail about their neighbours, much less transient neighbours with poor English. That part is just not remotely believable - just think about it and you will realise!

There were some women and children in a hotel on the seafront here, but that has now closed. I don't know where they have been relocated to.

Please share how it’s done because my upstanding friend whose claim has been open for ages could use the dosh.

I know very well about the backlog, where do you think that backlog came from? Hint, Labour weren't in power.

@JapanesePotWeed hi there

because I was so puzzled by the firewall/loft thing, I looked up

I note that you said you can’t get insurance anymore anyway. If you come to a point where you can get insurance….

I thought that insurers had a specific question about this because I’ve seen it on my parents house insurance forms

I asked mum and she said there was a lot of fuss when they bought it, and they were told that they would have to get it made safe.

So since then, she has had to declare it on insurance forms and eventually I’ve just seen it as a part of a list of stuff that’s written on the forms

Anyway, the point I’m making rather badly…

I looked it up and surprisingly the insurance companies expect you to actually declare it. It comes under non-standard construction apparently.

I bet a lot of people fall foul of it because there’s no question about it specifically.

It jumped out at me because in my first flat, I was responsible for annual maintenance of those firewalls.

Anyway, just saying that to you in case you are able to get out of this place and you find yourself in another house that’s got a similar setup.

Obviously I realise there are far bigger issues than this right now, but I’m just sharing that in case it’s useful.

I really hope something happens that makes this nightmare go away. So many streets being ruined like this. 💐

Sorry I didn't mean to imply some aren't canny with it, more that if they are here for that reason they're not likely to be here long term as they'll move on, and won't be 'given' housing, as a PP had implied. Obvs the huge backlog in getting claims assessed doesn't help because it's in that limbo period that people are in govt accommodation and some doing illegal work, and that can be years.

This thread has been posted on X. Only the OP's posts are showing.

It is an interesting question. Gemini differs with you. Admittedly it uses the higher UC payment, for the over 25s, in its calculations.

With the housing element paid separately, directly to the landlord, the question mainly comes down to utility bills. A convincing case is made that the utility bills for a single person are far outstripped by the extra money from UC.

I would be interested to know of any AI analysis that turns out differently.

Also, those eligible for benefits have the right to work which asylum seekers do not.

What year was this?
General Gordon died in Khartoum in 1885
Sudan declared independence on January 1, 1956, so just how old are you ?!

Your lofts are mutually accessible?? How does that work, even without an HMO next door? What about fire safety?

Yes families.They are a huge rarity, but do exist. I have never visited a single woman though.

I used to live in The Sudan and can say there were definitely British Army there as we used to go swimming in the Nile with them.

Thank you! Just over one person in a group of 1000 people living in the UK would be an asylum seeker. A negligible influence on the health service and other public services.

Teach me to do mental maths during the morning rush.

The OP has had many, many conversations (it seems) with the asylum seekers, using English learnt in their free classes.

She knows so much detail about them, their lives, their entitlements, where they have moved from and to, the many languages they speak, their calls to their wives and children at home, their plans for the future, the work they do/don’t do, their illegal drug dealing/activity that I am sure she doesn’t need an interpreter to speak with them. 🤔

Asylum seekers generally cannot claim mainstream UK benefits. Destitute asylum seekers may instead receive Home Office asylum support, which can include accommodation and, in self-catered accommodation, £49.18 per person per week for essential living expenses.

There are different types of accommodation for different categories of asylum/refugee.

The Afghan Resettlement Scheme offers support to families who have worked with the British Army in Afghanistan and are under threat because of their work. This is family housing for the families who arrive here. A range of working people from low skilled to doctors. Some are housed in empty military quarters.

The same with the Syrian Refugee Programme. Family housing, not council properties, below market rents sought by the Home Office with a cap on costs. Some horrific, confidential information provided about their backgrounds, to the point of not being able to read the detail.

Really? Our next door neighbour used to be an elderly woman. We would hear her stairlift so I really wouldn't have worked about her pottering into our attic.

The current family next door have one child and a dog. I know where they work and where their daughter goes to school. What should I be worrying about it my attic was open?
To be honest, it may well be. It is boarded out and we have cupboard doors into the eaves. I've never investigated to see if there is a crawl space between.

Millions of people walked into America under Biden crossing from the Mexican border.

Anyone pushing for safe and legal routes should be aware that the CBP1 APP where people could apply to come to America from Mexico led to people moving to Mexico and living in camps to apply and wait for an interview. 60,000,000 people applied using the app
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/immigration-cbp-one-app-migrants-mexico-64-million/

Video of the migrant camps in Mexico with people trying to get to America - a lot by using the CBP1 APP.

I don't imagine Trump will be letting many people into America that apply on an app so wonder what will happen to these people longer term. Will they stay in Mexico or go home?

If there is a refugee action charity in your area, it would probably be worth speaking to them and asking if they have any interpreters or people from their community who could talk to them about the issues you are feeling.

A friend of mine who currently rents to refugees did have to get some help with explaining to tenants about importance of certain things like smoking indoors and a few cultural differences, and luckily my friends husband who is native Arabic speaker and been here decades was able to explain to them better and the problem resolved.

I think you get similar issues with a lot of HMOs whether that's students or refugees or anyone tbh.

That IS sexual harassment.

There is one in my area for women and families only.