Local authority leaders have called for ‘urgent solutions’ to the issue of refugees being forced to present as homeless.
The Government has announced £250m of funding for councils as part of the Local Authority Housing Fund to reduce the risk of homelessness for new arrivals to the UK.
Cllr James Jamieson, chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), welcomed the funding but warned, ‘There continues to be a crisis across the refugee and asylum system, compounded by a housing crisis and the rapidly-approaching deadline for Afghan families to move on from hotels by the end of the summer.’
He added: ‘Councils have been at the sharp end of the rise in the number of people presenting as homeless and need urgent solutions to pressing housing needs in the short and the long term across all the schemes that welcome new arrivals to the UK.’
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