Retreat Housing – Case Study
Amina’s Story
Amina arrived in Northern Ireland as an asylum seeker in October 2021. She was initially offered accommodation in a hotel in Newtownabbey. Then she was moved to another hotel in Belfast and relocated again to a shared house.
In October 2023, Amina was delighted when finally she was granted refugee status. She was looking forward to finding a job and settling down after all the years of insecurity, of being moved from place to place and waiting for her case to be heard. However, this was when her challenges with housing became worse.
Amina was given 28 days to find alternative accommodation, but without a job, a guarantor or a deposit this was impossible. Towards the end of the 28 days the Housing Executive accepted her as homeless. She spent 7 days ‘sofa surfing’ before she was offered accommodation in a temporary shelter in November 2023.
Amina was quick to secure agency work and by June 2024 she had secured a permanent job which she enjoys. However, in July 2024, she was informed she must move out of thetemporary accommodation. Once again, without a guarantor or a deposit a private rental was impossible. She turned again to the Housing Executive and was offered a room in a mixed gender hostel but because she was in employment she would be charged a rent of £1200 per month. This high monthly charge appears to be based on the cost of a homeless hostel providing a high level of support to residents with chaotic lives and complex needs. There is a difference between people who need homelessness services and working people on low incomes who simply need access to a privately rented affordable home. Amina does not require the intensive support of a hostel key worker. She simply needs an affordable home. A mixed gender hostel, sharing kitchen and bathroom facilities with men with complex needs,is not culturally appropriate or safe for a Muslim woman. She does not earn enough money to pay such a high monthly fee so she could not accept the offer, but the Housing Executive regard her has having declined her only option. Amina has requested a review and HAPANI has been supporting her and Housing Rights is working on her case.
Since July 2024 Amina has been homeless. She can’t access affordable private rental accommodation as she does not have a guarantor. If she gave up her job, she would be allocated housing, but this means she would be caught in a benefit trap. Amina wants to work and she also wants a place to call home.
Today she is one of the ‘hidden homeless’ who are ‘sofa surfing’. She does not have a key to the front door of the house where she stays. She does not have the freedom to come and go as she pleases, and after working on a late shift she often has problems getting into the house because the other residents are asleep. She says, ‘I get home from work after midnight and everyone is in bed and I don’t want to waken them. I have no key if I just want to rest in the house during the day.’ She does not feel safe being alone on the street at night, especially with the risk of racist threats and attacks.
Amina says, ‘Sometimes I feel like just giving up. I don’t think they will ever give me anywhere to live. I want to work and I want to pay my rent but landlords want a deposit and a guarantor and when I don’t speak English they don’t even consider me. Sometimes I wish they just returned me to asylum seeker status because at least I would have a place to live.’