Portsmouth takes quarter of south’s asylum seekers
NO IMPACT Councillor Steven Wylie
CALLS have been made for asylum seekers to be spread more evenly across the country after it was revealed Portsmouth houses a quarter of those in the south east.
Figures for the first three quarters of last year show that an average of 26 per cent of the region’s asylum seekers were given temporary housing in Portsmouth by the Home Office.
From July to September this means 132 people – out of an area-wide total of 522 – were allowed to stay in the city while their claims for asylum were considered.
This has led councillors from both Portsmouth’s largest parties to question whether they should be distributed more widely, putting less pressure on one area’s public services.
Conservative housing spokesman Cllr Lee Mason said: ‘We’re short of housing in Portsmouth and we have a high population density, so anything that takes away housing from people in the city will have an impact.
‘It will impact heavily on schools, especially if the children don’t have good English.
‘I’ve spoken to a teacher in Portsmouth who told me she has nine different languages spoken in her classroom.
‘There can also be pressure put on the health services, because some asylum seekers may have had no access to healthcare.
‘We need to be sharing them out around the whole country, rather than creating these pressure points.’
Cllr Steven Wylie, Lib Dem cabinet member for housing, said he thought the numbers were too small to be definitely having an impact.
‘It is not affecting social housing because they are given private accommodation by the Home Office,’ he said.
‘But they should be allocated in a way that best suits the needs of the asylum seekers and the needs of the community.
‘I don’t think we should take on an unfair level.’
Mike Brown, the manager of the city’s branch of Refugee Action – which provides support for asylum seekers – said numbers had fallen across the country over the last 10 years.
He said: ‘Grouping asylum seekers together in cities means they can have all the essential services they need within reach, rather than spreading them around the countryside where they won’t receive any support.
‘They receive £40 a week from the government and that is all spent in our local area.
‘So even though there are a tiny amount in Portsmouth they are still providing an economic benefit.’
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Comments
There are 70 comments to this article
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Back Seat Driver
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 09:25 AMWell done Haggar @ 39 and again @68 for bringing all this to our attention. The sheer number of comments on this subject shows just how much Portsmouth people are disgusted by what has been revealed. If what you tell us is indeed the case then the current Lib Dem administration deserves to be driven out of office in disgrace. Our leaders have been spinning us tales in public of 'unfair' allocation of asylum seekers while privately agreeing to take in these numbers. Never mind that they may not have been housed in Council properties (though surely some of them have). The pressure on housing of all kinds in this city is very great and private landlords have been profiting hugely from this new industry. What ever happened to 'Portsmouth Homes for Portsmouth People'? Quite plainly the Lib Dem Administration has its hands all over this scandalous situation.
Angus McKay
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 09:42 PM68 haggar .... I don’t know how financially involved Glasgow City Councillors are in the assorted immigrant build-up to the city, but here’s one councillor who has exploited and gained from housing the Roma .... Scottish National Party councillor, Mr Jahangir Hanif, campaigner against poor housing and rogue landlords, promised to bring SNP Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to Westmoreland Street, Govanhill, Glasgow to show her how bad the living conditions were. Turned out he owns a two-bedroomed flat in a slum building - rented out at £500-a-month to a family of Romanians, guess where? - Westmoreland Street! Up and down the UK, the stories are all the same - too many assorted immigrants - brought in by the people who don’t have to live with them.
haggar
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 04:53 PMAngus McKay. What you have told us about Glasgow is very interesting but here in Portsmouth it is much more sophisticated. Portsmouth City Council have also done the money deal with the Home Office to take in Asylum Seekers but have applied an entirely commercial and corrupt approach to the situation. A few property developers who are extremely rich as a result of their drug dealing activities, launder their money through huge property development to house these people, this has been going on for almost ten years; they get whatever planning permissions they need, legal or not. As a result a few politicians and council officers, in the know, have received backhanders and the ruling Liberal Democrat huge sums of money as political donations. None of this has been told to the people of Portsmouth, never declared in any manifesto, and until recently few people except the beneficiaries of this corruption knew that it was going on. This gerrymandering and corruption has made the ruling Liberal Democrat Party virtually impossible to remove from power and a few people very very rich, at the expense of the city which in a few short years has had it's culture and community changed for the worse and from a predominately english city to an immigrant city. Crime has also risen exponentially especially crimes of a sexual nature.
Angus McKay
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 03:01 PM66 Pompey BD: You think you got troubles in Portsmouth, here’s what’s happening in Glasgow since the Roma arrived in their thousands: All quotes from media reports ... “SLUM housing in Govanhill, Glasgow has led to the area becoming a "breeding ground" for crime, exploitation, poor health and education and cockroaches. The squalid back courts in Westmoreland Street are littered with needles and refuse.” “A study commissioned by the association discovered 131 flats in the area bounded by Westmoreland Street, Dixon Avenue, Langside Road and Allison Street - dubbed Ground Zero' by residents - needed comprehensive improvement. Tenants in one tenement in Langside Road had to be evacuated from their flats last week after parts of the ground floor started to collapse into the basement.” “severe overcrowding, slum landlords, fire risks, anti-social behaviour and race relations conflicts, rogue landlords linked to gangmasters. On any given night rats as big as cats can be seen running along the rubbish-strewn streets. Allison Street and the whole of Govanhill is not only an ugly eyesore but an epidemic waiting to happen.” “One of the worst cases was a flat in Allison Street. The property, which housed four adults and seven children, was infested with cockroaches and there was a cooker next to the toilet. Floors were riddled with holes and electrical junction boxes with exposed wires dangled from the walls.” “A CHILD prostitution ring which is sexually exploiting immigrant Roma children as young as nine is operating in Glasgow, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Police have been running undercover surveillance operations in empty homes and unmarked cars in the Govanhill area in the southside of Glasgow for months in the hope of catching those behind the ring and the men paying to have sex with children. .... The blame lies on ALL of Glasgow City Council who did the money deal with the Home Office to house asylum seekers in the city .... and opened up the city to transporters to dump “economic migrants”, Roma et al, in Govanhill, and create Govanhell.
Pompey BD
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 10:44 AMre. the comment: "Cllr Steven Wylie, Lib Dem cabinet member for housing, said he thought the numbers were too small to be definitely having an impact." He only THINKS the numbers are too small. Why not FIND OUT? I was in Tesco on Friday and Arabs (buying alcohol no less!!) and Eastern Europeans were loud and intimidating in their behaviour. I felt like a foreigner in my own country. Certainly, walking around Portsmouth is not like it used to be. It used to be rare to see a burkha or a foreign taxi driver. Now, it's nothing but everywhere you turn.
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:23 PM59 Micah: "Asylum seekers do not get free mobile phones or free calls. Check it for yourself." I have checked, here’s my "check". quote My SPECIAL DAYS OF THE WEEK – Part 3 August 5th 2009 by Miana Badd .... When asylum seekers and refugees first arrive in Glasgow, they are given temporary accommodation at the YMCA. The British Red Cross Refugee Unit runs an outreach surgery at the YMCA. This is part of my role. Every Thursday from 1pm – 3pm, I go to YMCA, at 33 Petershill Drive, on 28th floor for the surgery drop-in. I always look forward to going there. I usually take two volunteers with me who speak different languages: Somali, Arabic, Bajuni, Swahili, Kurdish- sorani etc. The Scottish Induction Service, which is situated in the same building on the 29th floor, refers newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees to our drop-in surgery. This allows us to help people as soon as they arrive in Glasgow. Some asylum seekers have never gone to school and they cannot read or write. Some of them just manage to use a pen to make a line to sign forms. Some people want to sign with their fingerprints. That is why it is important that we are there to make sure they access our service. We knock on people’s doors, introduce ourselves and explain in details about the Red Cross. We also ask them if we can help them in any way. Some people don’t have mobile phones so we give them an appointment either at the office for assessment or offer to pick them up from reception YMCA if they don’t know yet how to take the bus on their own to the city centre. Otherwise we give people a leaflet with a map to our office and tell them to wait for our call for an appointment. When I am back at the office, I start matching them with volunteers to start the support. unquote First call on their new, free mobiles - probably “Get yourselves over here pronto, just found the land of milk and honey.”
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:18 PMSorry about the double posting at 61 and 62 - a slight blip.
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:16 PM59 Micah: True, you didn’t actually say "families live in shared bedsits" but by using the minimum accommodation given to a single male seeker, you seek to imply that all seekers are living in minimum accommodation. My figures on voluntary were the original correct sums offered. I have not been able to verify your figures although voluntary money bribes are still made. The offering of bribes is a criminal waste of taxpayers’ money - if the seeker has been legally failed, heshe should be deported without payment. If the seeker is prepared to return voluntary, then that proves the seeker is not fleeing persecution in their homeland and has nothing to fear by returning, and should not be given money. There are many people in the UK who believe in all people being given right of residence merely by virtue of being able to arrive here by whatever means and from anywhere in the world. In opposition, I have taken the alternate view. The UK should take every measure to block those arriving illegally and vigorously deport those who have no right to be here. My own people are those with whom I live and associate. I do not regard myself as an emigrant if I travel from Scotland to other parts of Britain and I do not regard English, Welsh, Irish as immigrants when they come to Scotland. I do not regard asylum seekers and refugees as my people.
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:14 PM59 Micah: Here‘s a sample of the costs for assorted migrants free translation services, just in case you choose not to believe: Glasgow Translation and Interpreting Service (GTIS) - Information for Agencies: How much will it cost? Minimum charge for the first hour or part hour: £39.21 + VAT. Each subsequent hour or part hour: £39.21 + VAT. After office hours, weekend, or public holidays: Minimum charge for the first hour or part hour: £58.81 + VAT. Each subsequent hour or part hour: £58.81 + VAT. Translation: Per A4 translated page or part thereof: £44.80 + VAT. Transport: Bus or Train: actual cost. Car mileage: as per Glasgow City Council rates. Taxi: only in exceptional circumstances when no transport is available.
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:13 PM59 Micah: Here‘s a sample of the costs for assorted migrants’ free translation services, just in case you choose not to believe: Glasgow Translation and Interpreting Service (GTIS) - Information for Agencies: How much will it cost? Minimum charge for the first hour or part hour: £39.21 + VAT. Each subsequent hour or part hour: £39.21 + VAT. After office hours, weekend, or public holidays: Minimum charge for the first hour or part hour: £58.81 + VAT. Each subsequent hour or part hour: £58.81 + VAT. Translation: Per A4 translated page or part thereof: £44.80 + VAT. Transport: Bus or Train: actual cost. Car mileage: as per Glasgow City Council rates. Taxi: only in exceptional circumstances when no transport is available.
Angus McKay
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 07:10 PM59 Micah: "Asylum seekers do not get child benefit. Check it for yourself." I have checked, here’s my "check", and the reply .... Here’s my letter to my area MP .... quote: Do asylum seekers receive their supplies of gas and electricity (heating, cooking, lighting etc.) free of charge or do they pay for their use of these commodities? :unquote. Reply from my area MP .... quote: *The immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) provides support under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in the form of accommodation and subsistence to eligible asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum seekers receive weekly cash payments worth **70% of income Support for adults and 100% for children. The level of support is intended to reflect the fact that IND supported asylum seekers do not have to meet the cost of accommodation, furnishings and utility bills. :unquote *Letter of correspondence, dated 25 September 2008 from House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. **This figure has now changed.
Micah
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 01:05 AM58 Angus: Well, at least I tried to have a meaningful dialogue! Asylum seekers do not get child benefit. Check it for yourself. Asylum seekers do not get free mobile phones or free calls. Check it for yourself. I didn't say that families live in shared bedsits, so why suggest that I did? They live in accommodation which is only just legal under the Housing Act according to the family size. Were your figures on voluntary return right, or were mine? At first reading of your previous post, I wasn't sure that you understood our judicial system, embodying as it does the possibility of appeal to a higher court in certain circumstances. But then I realised that perhaps you DO understand the judicial system, but you defend it only for "our own people"? C'mon, Angus. Out with it. I was honest enough to tell you that I believed in the principle that those who can establish their well-founded fear of persecution should be allowed to stay. Those who can't should be returned. What do YOU believe? And who are "our own people", exactly?
Angus McKay
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 09:26 PM57 Micah: Why do you choose to base your asylum costs on "a single adult asylum seeker"? Asylum seekers with children receive 100% child benefit on par with British children and family seekers do not live in "a shared bedroom in a bedsit with shared access to a kitchen". "The heat, light & furnishing is accounted for by the subsistence amounts being set lower than Income Support" - and - free accommodation, free NHS, dental and optical, free school, college and nursery education, free translation services, free legal, free money, free mobile phones and free calls. Your claim of "We give asylum seekers minimal support during that process" is ludicrous! The UK more than meets its "obligations" towards asylum seekers. Seekers have their claims to stay listened to and if a legal decision is made that the seekers had no right, or ever had, to stay in the UK, the seekers should be deported - too often the failed seekers and their supporters refuse to accept the legal rulings - and too often the Home Office fail to carry out our legal decisions. So easy for you, a decision is made, and you refuse to accept it, you claim it’s flawed. Should we have a situation whereby when our own people are found guilty, they we claim the decision is flawed, the convicted refuses to accept the decision, refuses to go to prison, court says OK, away back to your house. ’course not, but that’s what’s happening with asylum seekers.
Micah
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 06:15 PMAngus: No other financial support. Yes, they are allowed to use services available even to those who are destitute or on low income. The heat, light & furnishing is accounted for by the subsistence amounts being set lower than Income Support. Assisted Voluntary Return is £1500 for single asylum seekers, £2000 for those who have children. Having read your posts, Angus, I don't think we're going to agree on principles here! I believe that the UK has an obligation under international law, and a moral duty, to consider asylum claims and not to return anyone who can convince a court that they have a well-founded fear of persecution. We give asylum seekers minimal support during that process. The qualifying level of persecution under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights is high, and fewer than half achieve protection status. Many claimants are denied adequate legal assistance and their applications fail as a result. I agree with you that all benefit cheats should suffer the criminal consequences. But I hope you would never suggest that asylum seekers as a group are all "cheats and liars", as some do. The cost to the country of discharging this moral obligation is so pitifully small, it's a shame that even a small amount of misinformation is so incendiary.
Angus McKay
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 03:02 PM55 Micah Not so .... Asylum seekers get free furnished, repair free accommodation, free heating and lighting, free NHS treatment, free maternity, free dentistry, free specs, free school, college and nursery education, free translation services, free legal aid to keep them here when their cases comes up again and again for review, free money (benefits), free mobile phones and free calls. And, don’t forget the free offer of £3,000 £3,500 now on offer to asylum seekers prepared to go home. Also, why would any responsible employer employ a person whose character or work background cannot be checked out – most of these asylum seekers arrive without any passports or documents as to who they are or even which countries the come from. And for those seekers who take jobs on the side, they do so illegally – they are benefit cheats and liars. How many of them have undeclared savings – money made from the sale of their belongings prior to leaving for Britain? Why should asylum seekers be allowed to work? There's a tried and tested legal system for those who wish to come to Britain and work and it's certainly not through claiming asylum.
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