18    Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned I had to climb over a high fence. They broke the old hotel down; they build new thing. So me, I sleep in the canals, and some other places. Sometimes I ride my bike out of town just to go sleep, where I hide and nobody see me. I don’t want nobody to see me. I’m in graveyard. England is my graveyard. (Joshua, Ethiopia) 3.4.4 Night shelters Night shelters can provide a way for asylum seekers to get off the streets, although some choose not to use them: I do have clients that have either been street homeless or they still sleep on the street because they choose not to stay in a night shelter. I suppose if someone is choosing to sleep on the street perhaps that indicates how difficult the night shelter is. It’s a room with 25 other men. (Red Cross staff member, Glasgow 1) Zareb (Sudan) sleeps in the Glasgow Night Shelter, which is specifically for destitute asylum-seeking men. The shelter is closed between 8am and 8pm, and it can be a challenge to find somewhere to shelter from bad weather during the daytime. Zareb goes either to the public library or to Marie Trust, a homelessness charity in Glasgow, where he can sit inside for a few hours. The Red Cross staff member in Leeds mentioned that, although there is a shelter in Leeds, it does not support people who have no recourse to public funds and so will not accommodate refused asylum seekers. He reported that the Leeds Red Cross refugee service has helped to open a night shelter for destitute asylum seekers as part of their destitution network in the region: It got piloted last year for about three or four months and it should be reopening this winter; so it’s a winter shelter. That will make a big difference for destitute asylum seekers but it’s a temporary solution. I believe that will only be for men only because it’s an open space. (Red Cross staff member, Leeds) 3.4.5 Constantly on the move Some people resort to a variety of avenues when it comes to accommodation. The staff member in Leicester reported: A lot of them are just sofa-surfing, moving around different people’s houses. Sometimes sleeping outside; sometimes sleeping in some hostel that they find. (Red Cross staff member, Leicester) Bisrat (Eritrea) lost his support in August this year and he slept on the street for the first week after that. The night before we spoke to Bisrat, he had stayed with a friend, but he had no idea where he would sleep that night. Kasim (Iraq) lost his Section 4 accommodation at the end of 2015: In 2015, for Christmas my accommodation get stopped. I understand now Christmas coming back again, I still am homeless. I don’t have any accommodation from Home Office… now one year. It is very difficult this life. (Kasim, Iraq) Kasim has to rely on friends, who often have limited means themselves, or he lives on the street: Sometime I have place for sleep… sometime no have place. It’s very hard life; very, very hard. (Kasim, Iraq) Walid (Algeria) has been homeless for six months. Sometimes he stays with people he knows. He is on a waiting list at Action Foundation, a charity started by City Church Newcastle. One of their projects, Action Housing, provides accommodation and support to destitute asylum seekers with no recourse to public funds. The

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