Despite the continuing rise in COVID cases and increasing restrictions in many local areas, the Home Office is still pushing ahead with plans to evict people who have been refused asylum. However, many voices from across the UK are continuing to oppose the Home Office’s decision, and we applaud the Leader of Leeds City Council who has written to the Home Secretary to call for the Home Office to halt evictions.
This letter comes after brilliant advocacy work from local partners in Leeds, who worked together to send a joint letter to the Council from 17 local organisations working with refugees and people seeking asylum, asking for them to take up their concerns with the Home Secretary and call for a further suspension of evictions from asylum accommodation.
Special shout out to the Leeds Migration Partnership and partners across Leeds for this brilliant piece of work!
If you haven’t already written to your MP or local authority, it’s not too late! You can find a number of resources prepared by Asylum Matters jointly with NACCOM on the Asylum Matters website.
If you have already taken action, thank you! Asylum Matters and NACCOM are planning next steps for the campaign, so they are keen to hear from you about any responses you’ve had to these letters and any work with partners, MPs and local councillors on follow-up actions. Please let Asylum Matters know about any responses you’ve had or if you’d like to discuss next steps locally by replying to your regional campaign manager or writing to [email protected] City of Sanctuary also wants to hear your stories of local actions.