{"id":18907,"date":"2021-04-19T12:57:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T12:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=18907"},"modified":"2021-07-11T18:50:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T18:50:40","slug":"no-evictions-network-campaigning-for-asylum-seekers-housing-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/04\/19\/no-evictions-network-campaigning-for-asylum-seekers-housing-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"No Evictions Network – Campaigning for asylum seekers’ housing rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article outlines the No Evictions Network’s campaign to\u00a0promote solidarity and organisation in the face of social and state hostility. It is written by\u00a0Maria Torres-Quevedo and first appeared in bella caledonia<\/cite>.<\/p>\n

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Savan came to the UK seeking asylum; initially, he was \u201cfighting against this social injustice and these kinds of policies alone\u201d. He started engaging with refugee organisations and doing voluntary work until he came to the No Evictions Network, which he settled on because of its commitment to fighting for justice for asylum seekers and refugees. The No Evictions Network is a Glasgow based organisation that works to support asylum seekers and refugees through organising and campaigns, particularly around housing.<\/p>\n

Many of the members of the No Evictions Network either have direct experience as migrants or do work supporting asylum seekers and refugees in their communities, so they are familiar with the day-to-day issues they face. They are also connected to a broader network of campaigners around Scotland and the UK. The Asylum Landlords campaign, focusing on Home Office housing contractors, most notably the Mears Group, Serco, and Clearspring, developed out of these conversations.<\/p>\n

The campaign has two main goals: firstly, it seeks to shift the narrative on asylum seekers; Savan notes that the Home Office has put a lot of effort into \u201cdemonising asylum seekers and refugees\u201d over the last decade of Tory rule, painting them as an economic drain and a sociopolitical threat, while in reality there are very wealthy people profiting from keeping asylum seekers under very poor conditions through contracts with the Home Office. He insists that shifting public perception on this is crucial because the government strategy relies on \u201cgetting a mandate from the people\u201d to enact cruel policies by claiming that asylum seekers and refugees are \u201cwasting our taxpayers\u2019 money while [the government] waste billions\u2013 spending \u00a377,000 on their eyebrows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savan emphasises that, contrary to the logic this country seems to have internalised about the treatment of asylum seekers, the state\u2019s responsibility is to ensure safe conditions for them. Instead, there have been up to 25 people to a room in some accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Savan mentions speaking to people at an ibis hotel where there had been mass complaints about the food and skin rashes, only to be told there would be no amendment to these conditions. He says people under these conditions are often on sleeping pills in lieu of mental health care, and with no right to work they are living on about \u00a335 a week. He laments, \u201cwhat we see is punishment rather than caring, you know\u201d.<\/p>\n

Calling the conditions punitive is not hyberbole \u2014 the Home Office have repeatedly made it clear that the conditions are intentionally poor to serve as a deterrent. These conditions are what we commonly refer to as the \u2018Hostile Environment.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The other goal, then, is to put pressure on Home Officer contractors like Mears and Serco to comply with basic standards of living and care. Their demands are:<\/p>\n