Housing rights of people resettled in the UK from Afghanistan

There are special immigration routes for Afghan citizens and family members affected by the conflict in Afghanistan. These include resettlement schemes for people who were evacuated following the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021, and people who worked for the UK government.

People resettled under these schemes are normally given indefinite leave to remain. Someone with leave to remain under one of the schemes is likely to be:

• eligible for housing assistance

• eligible for an allocation of social housing

• entitled to work and claim benefits

The government has allocated funding to local authorities to help Afghans resettle and integrate in the UK.

The resettlement schemes

The Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) is the main scheme for resettling people from Afghanistan. People who arrived in the UK as part of the evacuation in 2021 can be referred to the scheme. Other referrals pathways are for Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries, referred by the UN Refugee Agency, and for people who worked for certain organisations who are at risk.

The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme is for people who worked for or with the UK government or armed forces in Afghanistan.

The ex-gratia redundancy and resettlement scheme ended on 30 November 2022. It was for people who worked directly for the UK government on 1 May 2006.

Applicants under the three schemes are granted indefinite leave to remain. People who were previously granted limited leave to remain under one of the schemes can apply for indefinite leave.

Many people who were resettled from Afghanistan have been temporarily accommodated by the Home Office in bridging accommodation. In many cases, the accommodation is a hotel or other short term accommodation.

On 28 March 2023 the government announced it is ending the use of bridging accommodation. People in bridging accommodation will be notified from the end of April of when the hotel is closing. They will be given three months' notice.

Bridging hotels are very unlikely to meet the definition of a dwelling, so the occupants are entitled to reasonable notice but not a court order.[1]

The government has published a factsheet on support for resettled Afghans in bridging accommodation. It states that:

• most households in bridging hotels will not be offered accommodation

• some households will receive one offer of housing only

• other households can look for their own housing through the Find Your Own Accommodation Scheme

Someone who is unable to find alternative housing can apply as homeless to a local authority.

Offers of accommodation

Any offer of accommodation from the Home Office is likely to be private rented accommodation. It might be in a different area from the bridging hotel.

The Home Office guidance on bridging accommodation closures has not yet been updated following the announcement on the end of the use of bridging accommodation. It states that when looking for alternative accommodation, the Home Office prioritises:

• the interests of the children, including disruption to education

• medical needs where evidence is available

• whether treatment or support relating to a disability restricts location options

• employment, and whether someone's job can be relocated

• concerns because of children or adult's education

• care provided by family in the area to vulnerable household members

Challenging an unsuitable offer

The person should raise any concerns they have with the Home Office and local authority staff at the bridging hotel. The person should provide any evidence they have relating to their concerns. For example, a letter from the school about disruption to a child's education. Putting any concerns in writing will provide evidence of what was raised if a further challenge is needed.

The person might be able to challenge an unsuitable offer by judicial review in the High Court. For example, if the Home Office offers accommodation in another area without having regard for concerns the person has raised.

Find Your Own Accommodation Scheme

The Find Your Own Accommodation scheme is run by the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It allows people in bridging accommodation to look for their own private rented accommodation and still be entitled to the same level of resettlement support from a local authority.

The person should speak to the support staff at the bridging accommodation. The support staff should complete a personal move on plan for the person and confirm what the Home Office considers affordable accommodation. Only some local authorities are participating in the scheme. The support staff should be able to confirm what areas the person should look in.

Once the person has found a suitable property, the support staff notify the local authority in that area. The local authority decides whether the property is suitable and what support it can offer. The person can find a number of suitable properties and present them to the local authority at the same time.

The local authority can use the funding it gets to help the person access accommodation. For example, it can:

• pay a deposit and rent in advance

• help with the costs of furniture

• top up the rent for a period, for example if the person will soon be starting employment

The local authority can help by negotiating with prospective landlords or agents. It could act as a guarantor or persuade the landlord to waive a guarantor requirement.

The government has published a guide to finding a settled home for people in bridging hotels.

Previous Home Office matching process

In May 2022 the Home Office wrote to local authorities and people in bridging accommodation stating that a person in bridging accommodation would receive up to two offers of appropriate accommodation. This no longer applies. The Home Office now states that it will only make a single offer of accommodation and only to some people in bridging hotels.

The guidance and letters included:

• the definition of an appropriate offer of accommodation

• the process if someone refused an offer of accommodation

• what the Home Office considered a good reason for refusing an offer

Download the DLUHC letter to local authorities (PDF)

Download the Local authority Q&A on the matching process (PDF)

Someone resettled in the UK from Afghanistan might need to make a homeless application to a local authority. For example, if their bridging hotel is closing and they have not found alternative accommodation.

When can someone apply as homeless

A local authority must accept a homeless application if it has reason to believe someone who approaches it might be homeless or threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days.

A person does not need to be sleeping rough to be legally homeless. Homelessness can include where someone has accommodation but it is not reasonable to expect them to stay there. For example if poor conditions mean they are at risk of harm.

Use our interactive tool to check if someone is legally homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Someone who has been given notice to leave a bridging hotel is likely to be threatened with homelessness if:

• they have to leave in the next 56 days

• they have no other accommodation that would be reasonable to occupy

Eligibility for homelessness assistance

Someone who has been resettled under one of the schemes is likely to be eligible for homelessness assistance.

A person with indefinite leave to remain is eligible for assistance.[2] They are usually required to be habitually resident in the Common Travel Area. This does not apply if they left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021.

Afghan citizens are eligible for homelessness assistance if they have limited leave to remain in the UK under either the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the the previous (ex gratia) scheme for locally employed staff in Afghanistan.[3] Afghan citizens are also eligible if they have another form of leave and left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the government in 2021.[4]

Someone with a different type of leave might also be eligible. For example, if someone has been granted refugee status. Use our homeless rights checker for a quick answer on who is eligible for homelessness assistance.

Duties to prevent and relieve homelessness

When a local authority is satisfied that a person is eligible for assistance, and homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, it must assess the person’s housing needs and draw up a personalised housing plan.

If the person is threatened with homelessness, the authority must take reasonable steps to help prevent them becoming homeless. This is called the prevention duty.

If the person is already homeless, the authority must take reasonable steps to help them secure accommodation for at least six months. This is called the relief duty.

The prevention and relief duties do not necessarily mean the local authority must provide accommodation itself. It could provide support to help someone find private rented accommodation.

If the applicant is homeless but has no local connection to the local authority they have applied to, the authority might be able to refer them to another local authority.

Emergency accommodation

If a local authority has reason to believe that a person might have a priority need then they have a duty to secure that emergency accommodation is available to them while the local authority carries out further enquiries.

Some people have an automatic priority need. For example, if they have dependant children or someone in the household is pregnant. Other people only have a priority need if they are vulnerable due to their health, background or other reason. Find out more about who has a priority need when applying as homeless.

A person who has fled violence or persecution in Afghanistan might be vulnerable as a result of their experiences. A local authority might need to consider the impact on their mental and physical health, as well as their ability to find and retain accommodation. Read our guide on advising on vulnerability and priority need.

Intentional homelessness

A local authority looks at whether a person is intentionally homeless when deciding whether it owes them a long term housing duty. A person is intentionally homeless if they have deliberately done or failed to do something, which has led to them losing accommodation that would otherwise have been available and reasonable to occupy.

Someone who has left their home because of war, violence or persecution is unlikely to be intentionally homeless from that accommodation.

A person can only be found intentionally homeless from accommodation they have actually occupied. Refusing an offer of alternative accommodation would not usually mean someone was homeless intentionally, unless that refusal was the cause of the loss of their current accommodation. The authority would also need to consider if the accommodation was reasonable to continue to occupy.

Longer term housing

The local authority might owe the person a long term housing duty if:

• they have a priority need

• they are not intentionally homeless

• the authority is unsuccessful in helping them find accommodation under the relief duty

The local authority must provide suitable temporary accommodation until it can discharge the duty, usually by an offer of social or private rented housing.

Challenging a negative decision

A person might be able to seek judicial review in the High Court if the local authority either:

• refuses to accept a homeless application

• takes an application but refuses to provide interim accommodation

Find out more about when to refer a homelessness case for judicial review.

A person can ask for an internal review if the local authority provides a written decision that it does not have to help. For example, if it says the person does not have a priority need. Find out more about internal reviews of homelessness decisions.

Challenges to homelessness decisions are in scope for legal aid. The person should get advice from a solicitor or housing adviser.

Any accommodation offered under a homeless application must be suitable for the needs of the person and their household. This includes emergency accommodation.

Issues around suitability can include:

• the size of the accommodation

• the condition, including any hazards

• whether it is affordable

There are different rules for people who apply within two years of arriving in the UK. This might affect people who have resettled in the UK from Afghanistan.

A local authority does not have to take location into account when assessing suitability if the applicant applied as homeless within two years of their arrival in the UK.[5] This includes any disruption to education or employment due to travel.

The authority must consider possible disruption to any caring responsibilities of the applicant or their household for someone with whom there are family associations. For example, an elderly parent who lives separately in the authority’s area. An authority should still try to secure accommodation in its own area as far as is reasonably practical.

Local authorities should consider how children who have experienced trauma as refugees might be affected by a move away from family and friends.

Use of bed and breakfast

Local authorities can normally only accommodate someone who is pregnant or has dependent children in bed and breakfast accommodation for a maximum of six weeks.[6] Bed and breakfast means accommodation which is not separate, self-contained premises and where a toilet, personal washing facilities or cooking facilities are shared between more than one household.

This rule does not apply where a person makes a homeless application within two years of their arrival in the UK.[7] People with children or where someone in the household is pregnant should still only be placed in bed and breakfast if no other suitable accommodation is available. Bed and breakfast might be unsuitable for a range of reasons. For example, if the person has a disability and the size, layout or condition of the accommodation makes it unsuitable. If there are inadequate cooking facilities, the accommodation might be unaffordable.

Someone with leave under one of the schemes is likely to be eligible for an allocation of social housing.

Each local authority has an allocations scheme that sets out who qualifies for an allocation and who is given priority. This might include a requirement that a person has been resident in the area for a set period of time, for example two years. This type of local residence requirement might mean that many people resettled in the UK from Afghanistan do not qualify under their local authority's allocation scheme.

A person in bridging accommodation can find their own private rented accommodation without using the Find Your Own Accommodation Scheme. They would not be entitled to the same resettlement support from a local authority which does not participate in the scheme.

Right to rent checks

Private landlords must carry out right to rent checks for every adult who will occupy a property. A person with leave under one of the resettlement schemes has the right to rent. A person has a time limited right to rent if they have leave to remain in the UK for a set period.

A landlord can carry out a right to rent check online if the person has a biometric residence card or permit. They can manually check documents if the person has other documents relating to their status.

If a person's documents are with the Home Office, the landlord can request a Home Office right to rent check. The person must provide the landlord or agent with the Home Office reference number. If the Home Office does not respond within two working days of the request, the landlord can treat this as if the Home Office had issued confirmation that the person has a right to rent.

Find out more about right to rent immigration checks.

Upfront costs of renting

Landlords usually ask for a tenancy deposit and rent in advance.

A local authority might have a rent deposit or guarantee scheme. Some schemes pay a deposit in cash to the landlord. Others provide the landlord with a written guarantee that the scheme will cover unpaid rent or property damage.

Someone who claims universal credit might be able to apply for a budgeting advance to pay rent in advance. A budgeting advance is an interest free loan from the DWP. The person or their partner usually must have claimed universal credit or another means tested benefit for six months. A person who receives housing benefit or the housing costs element of universal credit can apply for a discretionary housing payment from their local authority.

Landlords and agents cannot require a prospective tenant to pay other fees, for example for administration. There is an exception for payments made by a local authority. This allows local authorities to make additional payments to landlords as an incentive for taking on a tenant.[8]

Guarantors

A landlord might ask for a guarantor. This is sometimes the case if a person has no renting history in the UK. A guarantor agrees to pay a tenant's rent if they fail to pay it. If the tenant does not meet their financial obligations, the guarantor can be pursued for payment.

A local authority can be a guarantor for someone it owes a housing duty to. Alternatively, a landlord might waive a guarantor requirement if the local authority offers an incentive payment or additional support.

Find out more about guarantors for tenancy agreements.