Haringey Welcome and Museum of Homelessness are hoping to raise £5,400

Rough sleeping is on the rise in London and Haringey

A new fundraiser has been launched to tackle refugee homelessness in Haringey.

Haringey Welcome and Museum of Homelessness (MoH) have teamed up to launch the fundraiser, which aims to raise the upfront cost for homeless individuals to rent a room for one month – which they estimate is at £1,600 per person.

The fundraiser comes in light of a worsening homelessness crisis during winter, which Haringey Welcome say is exacerbated by one-week eviction periods introduced by the Home Office this August.

Per person, Haringey Welcome and MoH say that £500 is provided by Haringey Council as the ‘standard support’ for those at risk of homelessness without priority need; £200 will then be provided by MoH; and the organisations aim to raise £900 of the rest towards £1,600.

Haringey Welcome said on their fundraiser page: “The government has been on a long-running mission to establish a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants and refugees. The latest iteration of this is to grant asylum seekers refugee status, only to follow it swiftly with an eviction notice asking them to vacate their Home Office accommodation, often in as little as seven days, without any support to move on.

“This creates a perfect storm for these members of our community, many of whom are living with the effects of conflict and trauma and are in the very early stages of rebuilding their lives. In other words, they are being set up to fail.

“However, where the problem is financial – we can all help. We might not be able to change government policy, but we can counter it with solidarity and generosity for these vulnerable members of our community.”

To contribute to the fundraiser, visit this link.

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