 PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release Wednesday, February 26th 2025 ST PETER'S SQUARE HOMELESS CAMP - EVICTED THIS MORNING - MOVES TO ALBERT SQUARE RAPAR working with camp residents on their cases and asks: "Why is the City Council refusing to find housing for homeless people before turning them out of their tents and onto the streets again?" The Homeless Camp in St Peter's Square was evicted by Manchester City Council this morning and has now moved a short distance into Albert Square. Since the possession order was granted by Judge Bird, RAPAR has been working with camp residents and last week hand delivered an urgent letter to the court asking the judge to reconsider. In the letter, we explained this was the second camp to be created by the community within a year. Many of the residents are refugees who have been made homeless by the UK's asylum system. The camps were set up because Manchester City Council's homeless team failed to recognise and respond to the needs of destitute and vulnerable people. Instead, they have been directing camp residents to a charity which cannot help with accessing housing and does not have the statutory responsibility for doing so. It is not a new problem. RAPAR has been warning for years about the homelessness caused by the Home Office asylum system and the City Council's reluctance to meet its responsibilities to ALL people living in Manchester. In the letter, we said: "Newly homeless refugee people were met with answering machines when calling to declare they had been made homeless. Given no access to emergency accommodation, they were left outside on the streets. "At the heart of this, there are people who have fled from war, brutality and the brink of famine. The Home Office has acknowledged their refugee status. Many are homeless because they have been given refugee status, or due to the dearth of immigration and housing advice available to them. "Some people are living at the camp for safety reasons, to avoid living in tents on their own. Others are in Manchester because of local connections - their communities, culture, or wider circle of family and friends. "The local authority should not be abrogating its responsibilities towards people living on the city’s streets and the council's homelessness services should be available to every homeless person living in Manchester." Saif Lutfisay, Chair of the Sudanese Community Association, says: "Sudanese members of RAPAR are working with homeless people in St Peter's Square and have consistently made themselves available to all the relevant authorities in order to enable the Sudanese homeless people, and indeed all homeless people wherever they come from, to achieve shelter, dignity and safety." Mohammed (not his real name),a 21 year old young man from Sudan says: "I have been living in a tent in St Peter's Square for two months. The Home Office had dispersed me to Blackburn which is why I was living there but when I was awarded my refugee status last September I was made homeless and I experienced racism on the streets in Blackburn so headed into Manchester. I have been trying to find work all this time but every time I go for a job they say that if I don't have an address they can't give me a job." Emma Layla, a RAPAR volunteer, the Chair of the community group Reach4Change, and with lived experience of street homelessness, is leading this work in RAPAR. She says: "On the first day of RAPAR's Homeless Camp Drop In, we saw 10 men from the camp. A tent is not a choice, it is necessity. None of these homeless peoples' circumstances have been assessed properly, nor have they been given correct advice or services. Everyone at the Drop In had already presented themselves at Mustard Tree charity where they have been told they cannot bid on any accommodation that becomes available. I hope that the judge who received our letter last Friday reconsiders and realises that this is a breach of duty of care that must be addressed immediately." ENDS
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Anith Murugesh
28/2/2025 23:07:51
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