Introduction
This post provides additional detail about housing purchased
by Cornwall Council to support resettlement of refugees. It follows a post comment (4 Jan 26) on the pzbusiness
FB page by Rob Trewhella (post about award of outline planning approval for 140
new homes near Castle Horneck (Penzance))
where he mentions a FOI response from Cornwall Council (Jun 2024) referring
to 42 homes purchased for refugees. There was insufficient space on FB to
present the Council’s response (forward to me by Rob) and associated information and links.
Local Authority Housing Fund (Cornwall’s Grants)
The purpose of the LAHF is to help local authorities provide settled, affordable accommodation for families arriving in the UK through Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement schemes, as well as addressing broader local housing pressures.A key point about local authorities housing refugee families is that in recent years it has been heavily supported by Central Government funding through the LAHF and this is the case for the 42 properties referred to in Cornwall Council’s FOI response (copied at the bottom). There has been great pressure on the current and previous Governments to get asylum seekers out of B&Bs and hotels as well having refugees with approved status spread around the UK and not concentrated in a small number of Local Authorities.
Cornwall Council receipts from LAHF:
Round 1 £3,630,000 (Feb 2023), 33 properties (26 for Ukrainians, 7 for Afghans)
Round 2 £2,640,000
in Nov 2023. (12 for general need, 8
for for Afghans)
After the Jun 2024 FOI response date:
Round 3 £5,254,363 (Sep 2024). 23 properties for temporary needs purchased due to support 11 Afghan resettlement properties. Purchase of these properties will be completed by March 2026.
For reference, the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) closed to new
applicants 1 July 2025 but there may however have been a backlog of applicants yet to be permanently housed.
There are some 1100 Ukrainian refugees in Cornwall and 400 hosts who help house them (from Cornwall Council link above)
Social Housing Allocations with no Cornwall Connection.
The FOI (below) asked a generic question about the
allocation of social housing to individuals with no local connection plus a
specific question about allocation to refugees (answered above).
The generic answer is that 4.6% of social housing allocations (133 out of 2882 allocation from 2022- 2024 (Jun)) were to individuals/families without a local connection. Such cases lacking a local connection arise with UK nationals who are victims of domestic abuse, care leavers, vulnerable individuals - a class that includes ex servicemen/service women amongst others. Adult refugees with approved status do not automatically qualify as being in 'priority need' but families with children and pregnant women are always considered in 'priority need' and if a refugee you are unlikely to have a 'local connection'.
FOI Q1 asked about "people who have been placed in social housing in the county from other counties in the UK". Cornwall Council ignored or failed to recognize the suggestion/implication in the question that other council 'dump' the homeless on Cornwall. Because of the severe financial impact of having to house homeless individuals councils don't accept referrals from other councils unless there is an indisputable local connection to their council area. All councils have an obligation to provide homeless advice to the homeless. If the homeless person has a local connection and is in 'priority need' then that council has to provide a housing solution. If a connection to another council is identified then the housing of that person in 'priority' need' is referred on to that council. There are a few exceptions as listed in the previous paragraph but most people have a local connection somewhere in the UK (a refugee with recognized asylum status would obviously be an exception).
Cornwall Council FOI Response (14 Jun 2024)
Pages 1 & 2 (note: Includes responses from 'Housing Options' (dealing with allocations) and Sustainable Growth & Development dealing with housing supply)
