Accommodation
Every woman should have access to safe and dignified accommodation while she waits for a decision on her asylum claim.
Accommodation is a pressing concern for the refugee and asylum-seeking women in our network.
Many have been accommodated in hotels, including mothers with their children. Many women experience gender-specific harms in hotel accommodation. There is no women-only accommodation for single women, and women we work with have told us they feel uncomfortable in mixed-gender accommodation, because of their previous experiences of gender-based violence. There have also been reports of women experiencing sexual harassment and threats in their hotel accommodation.
"I was in a room with no windows for over a year. I felt like I was living in a coffin."
Hope*, member of Rainbow Sisters and our Spokesperson Network
We are campaigning to:
Stop the use of hotels
Stop the use of hotels as long-term accommodation for women.
Improve conditions
While women remain in hotels, to improve conditions for women.
End the use of large-scale centres
Prevent the use of large-scale accommodation centres to accommodate women, and to end the use of these centres entirely.
"My name is Lila. In 2021 I fled Afghanistan to escape the violent and oppressive rule of the Taliban. I travelled to the UK with my daughter. Our journey was terrifying. But all I could think about was getting her somewhere safe. Ever since then we have been living in limbo. We miss our home so much. But that home no longer exists. I’d hoped we’d be welcomed here. That I’d left fear behind. But this room is not a home. And being alive is not the same as being safe."
