Our service at Southwark Refugee clinic provides friendly and supportive housing advice to refugees about the best ways to find, negotiate and secure a tenancy in the private rented sector
Kineara has been supporting refugees attending a weekly drop-in surgery at the St Giles Centre, established by the Southwark Community Refugee Forum to assist those granted the right to remain in finding accommodation in the Private Rented Sector (PRS).
This is in direct response to the mass evictions of people from ‘NASS’ or Asylum Seeker accommodation as backlogs of asylum applications are cleared. These evictees are considered low priority for housing, leading to increased homelessness, which has negatively affected local councils, wider communities, but no one more than the newly processed refugees.
Help Provided
We provide comprehensive support for navigating the private rental sector, including advice on property searches, tenancy agreements, understanding tenant rights and responsibilities, landlord communication, and more.
As we have seen from our wider interventions, sustaining a tenancy also depends on healthy connections to the local community.
As such, we are keen to develop and enhance this current service across further boroughs with a more holistic offering that maximises the chances of a positive integration into our communities and sustained tenancies. Additional support we can provide in conjunction with our partners include:
- Help to find and register with a GP and other community services for health and wellbeing
- Learning and skills development opportunities
- Employment opportunities