Local charity partners with City Council in a plea to local landlords
Building on public support, Cambridge City Council is working with Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign (CRRC) to reach out to private landlords for help. CRRC is part of the Citizens UK national campaign to help resettle refugees.
The council is asking private landlords for help to resettle Syrian refugees. This doesn’t mean people are being asked to give up property for free. If they choose to take part, landlords can receive local housing allowance rates from the government. Rates are dependent on area and can be calculated online. All properties must be self-contained units due to Home Office prohibitions against the use of spare rooms for resettling refugees, and lets need to be a minimum of 14 months, although ideally longer to provide resettled refugees with more stability.
Councillor Lewis Herbert said: “Working with private landlords through the resettlement campaign is a welcome and important way to expand how many people Cambridge can rehome.” Cambridge City Council have agreed to resettle a minimum of 50 vulnerable refugees, however CRRC is hoping to receive at least 100. Campaign head Stefan Haselwimmer has said some private landlords have offered accommodation, but by working with the council they could “reach out to private landlords across the region and turn the public’s desire to help refugees into practical action”.
