‘Every night I’m praying I’ll survive another day’: Asylum seekers unable to social distance in accommodation

Home Office accused of failing to ensure people seeking asylum in Britain are able to follow government’s coronavirus guidance, in what lawyers say could be breach of law, writes May Bulman

A photo taken on 28 April shows asylum seekers eating together in Urban House

Asylum seekers have said they fear for their lives as they reside in accommodation centres where they are forced to share bedrooms, bathrooms and dining areas with strangers during the pandemic.

The Home Office is coming under mounting pressure from charities who say it is failing to ensure people seeking asylum in Britain are able to follow the government’s coronavirus guidance, in what lawyers say could be a breach of the law.

The Independent reported on 28 March that people living in Urban House, an initial accommodation centre in Wakefield that is designed to hold asylum seekers for short periods of time before they are given longer-term housing, were being forced to eat in communal spaces in close proximity to one another in breach of social-distancing guidelines.

Since then, Mears Group, which is contracted by the Home Office to manage the centre, said social-distancing arrangements had been put in place for mealtimes and that people were “able to keep apart”.

But a photograph taken on 28 April shows residents in the facility are still having to eat meals within a metre apart. The Independent understands there are around 270 people in Urban House eating in these conditions and sharing bedrooms with strangers.

One resident, Majid, 35, who arrived in the UK six weeks ago and was placed in Urban House on 6 April, said he had a kidney condition after having one of his kidneys removed several years ago, but was not able to follow social-distancing regulations in Urban House.

Majid said he feared for his health in Urban House (Majid)

The Iranian national, who says he fled religious persecution in his home country, said: “I try to keep my distance, but when you’re sitting at a table and you don’t have enough distance with the next person, and it’s really busy and even if people want they can’t social distance, what can I do? I want to keep myself safe, but I haven’t got any choice.

“I’m really concerned. If anything comes into this place, the virus will spread very quickly. We’re lots of people living together and people are moving in and out.”

Majid, who didn’t want to use his full name, received a letter from the Home office on 26 March stating that he had been accepted for Section 95 asylum support, which is provided to destitute people while they await their asylum decision and grants them a room in a shared house and a £37.50 subsistence payment each week. More than a month later he remains in Urban House and is not receiving the weekly support.

He sent an email to Migrant Help, a charity contracted by the Home Office to be the single point of contact to report issues relating to asylum housing, on 18 April saying he was unable to protect his health properly while in Urban House. It read: “In this place that I am now, I can’t observe personal hygiene … Because of this disease I have, I am worried that my body will get infected.”

Majid received a response two days later confirming that the charity “understood that he had a medical condition” and that he would be sent to long-term accommodation “as soon as possible”.

But more than a week on he remains in the centre, and he said new residents were moving in from different parts of the country: “We don’t know if they’ve been tested for coronavirus. They’re putting us all here like sheep. That’s the only way I can explain it.

“If any illness came into Urban House I feel like I’m the first one who would be affected. Every night I’m praying that I will survive being in here for another day. I’m thankful to the Home Office because they’ve accepted me here, given me some food and a room. I’m really thankful for that, but I’m pretty sure there is something wrong happening here.”

Mears Group refuted the claim that new people were being moved into Urban House, saying no new service users had moved in since 16 April in order to maintain a “stable household”, including for shared rooms, as advised by Public Health England. It said there were 66 bathrooms.

The company said there were currently no people moving in or out of Urban House except those with symptoms who needed to move to self-isolate. Nine people have moved out to self-isolate since the lockdown began, none of which have been confirmed Covid-19 cases, according to the firm.

Katy Watts, solicitor at the Public Law Project, told The Independent that from a legal standpoint, an individual such as Majid, who had been granted Section 95 support and was still in Urban House more than a month later, was being treated unlawfully, on the basis that the accommodation was “inadequate” during the pandemic.

“Shared-room accommodation doesn’t enable people to comply with social-distancing regulations set out in the government guidance and cannot be adequate in the current public health crisis, and would therefore be unlawful,” she said.

Hundreds of asylum seekers elsewhere in the country are meanwhile said to have been moved from Home Office accommodation to hotels in response to the pandemic. Charities said they have subsequently had their asylum support withdrawn and in some cases been unable to social distance in the hotels.

Campaigners are calling on the government to place asylum seekers in hotel accommodation, but ensure that their weekly financial support continues and that social-distancing measures can be followed.

Stephen Hale, chief executive of Refugee Action, said it was “appalling” that many people seeking asylum were finding it impossible to follow government guidance during this pandemic because of where they were required to live.

“The Home Office must make sure that people can properly self-isolate, socially distance and maintain their personal hygiene in line with vital government advice,” he added.

A Mears spokesperson said: “We are doing our utmost to keep our service users safe in relation to Covid-19. We are working closely with the Home Office and with Public Health England and have implemented all advice and guidance, including following a visit and inspection on the 7 April by the director of public health, who approved continued operation of Urban House.

“Our service users are able to leave the building for exercise, as advised by the government, and in line with the general population. This is organised on a rota system and we sign people in and out of the building. We have provided clear advice on maintaining social distancing while out exercising.

“All service users with documented underlying health issues were moved into self isolation over a month ago.”

The Home Office said it inspected Urban House on the 7 April 2020 along with Wakefield Council health partners, and that subsequent recommendations to maintain it as a “static population”, immediately move people who display symptoms into hotel accommodation to self-isolate and maintain occupancy at 80 per cent of capacity had been implemented.

It said there were health facilities embedded on site to deal with health conditions amongst the resident population and that all occupants had been given guidance in their own language relating to hygiene, washing hands, social distancing and coronavirus symptoms.

A spokesperson said: “The safety and health of people in our accommodation and the communities in which they live is of the utmost importance. The Home Office and Wakefield Council health partners inspected Urban House in April and we continue to manage the site in accordance with their recommendations and adhering to social-distancing measures.”