Councillor Sheila Chapman: ‘We want to see residents properly and securely housed’

COUNCILLORS have welcomed the decision to close the hostel at the centre of the Tribune’s investigation – but say asylum decisions must be made more quickly.

Designated a “Borough of Sanctuary”, Islington has long been proud of its status as welcoming to asylum seekers, but the Town Hall says it is reliant on the Home Office to speed up decision making in order to help integration.

Councillor Heather Staff, who holds Islington Council’s “Migrant Champion” role, said: “Islington wants to take part in well-planned resettlement, play its part in the world. But we need funding and for decisions to be made faster and correctly.”

She added: “There also needs to be appropriate accommodation and work on inclusion if we are going to get this right.”

While waiting for their asylum application to be decided upon, people do not have the right to work.

They are frequently confined to living in accommodation separate from the rest of the local community.

This means they are often isolated, left in limbo for months or years, with little idea of what the future holds.

Cllr Staff said: “We want to be welcoming, but everybody deserves decent standards. If you’ve got too any people in a confined space for too long because a decision isn’t being made, all of that amounts to not a good situation for many people to be in.

“We need people to be living in the best possible conditions, and we’ve always asked that decisions are made appropriately and quickly, so people aren’t kept for long periods of time.”

Councillor Sheila Chapman, Islington’s equalities chief, said that the council remained “deeply concerned about the significant challenges many refugees face in securing stable housing”.

She told the Tribune: “We strongly advocated for this building to stop being used as temporary accommodation, as we did not believe it provided a safe or decent place to live.

“While we welcome the Home Office’s decision to discontinue its use, we are deeply concerned about the wellbeing of its residents and urge the government to ensure they are properly and securely housed.”

She added that Islington was “ready to work in partnership with the Home Office to look at positive solutions for residents living in Islington”.

Funding of £500,000 has been allocated to projects involving asylum seekers, with a panel of refugees, migrants, and people seeking asylum deciding how to spend the money.

The council also hosts welcome sessions for recent arrivals to help people access the full range of council services.