Exiled and Homeless

# CHAPTER 3

EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE 31 # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...... 33

Right to asylum: Europe-wide harmonisation proves challenging ...... 34

Arriving in Europe: an obstacle course ...... 35

Definitions and outlines of the report ...... 36

1. Seeking refuge: inadequate reception and accommodation

conditions for asylum seekers ...... 41 A - Outdated and unsuitable specialised accommodation systems: the institutionalisation of emergency accommodation

for asylum seekers ...... 46 B - Access to dignified housing conditions hindered by abuses of the Dublin Regulation and

by a tightening up of national legislation 51

C - Varied measures when it comes to provision

for people in vulnerable situations ...... 57

D - The absence of accommodation options for migrants in transit 64

2. ‘Under protection’ but homeless: the difficulties beneficiaries

of international protection face in accessing housing ...... 66 A - The problem of housing transitioning despite the change in

administrative status 67 B - The escalation of barriers to accessing common law housing

for people under international protection ...... 73

C - Feedback from the field and best practice ...... 78

CONCLUSION ...... 83

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he proportion of people in exile among the homeless population has increased significantly over the last ten years, in all countries where data was available, including Greece, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France1. Where official quantitative data does not exist, qualitative 1 information and feedback from the voluntary sector bears this out. As is also evidenced in See the previous the Index of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2020 (see page 87), when people from third countries access chapter for detailed T information. the housing market, they are proportionally more vulnerable to housing exclusion, prohibitive costs, 2 and unfit housing. Eurostat, 2020. See ‘Going Further - Europe experienced several mass movements of refugees over the 20th century, including the 500,000 Annexes and Tables’ – Graph 1.1 – Demands Spanish Republicans who arrived in France in 1939, the one million Jews, Muslims and ‘pieds-noirs’ for asylum (from third- country applicants) in who arrived from Algeria in 1962, and the 700,000 Yugoslavs who arrived in Western Europe in 1992. Of the EU-28 countries, 2009-2019. its 512 million inhabitants on 1 January 2018, the European Union is home to 22 million non-European 3 citizens, or about 4.4% of its population.2 Having reached a peak of more than 1.3 million in 2015, the Eurostat, 2020 [migr_ asyappctza]. annual number of asylum seekers in Europe (those coming from third countries), dropped considerably 4 to 647,165 people in 2018. The upward trajectory returned between 2018 and 2019 when 721,070 people Eurostat, 2020 (+13%) applied for asylum across the EU-28 countries.3 In 2019, 39% of first instance decisions on asylum [migr_asydcfsta]. While refugee status and applications in the EU-28 were positive and led to the granting of refugee status, subsidiary protection subsidiary protection status are defined by status, or a residence permit on humanitarian grounds4 and 39% of final judgements after appeal or European Union law, status on humanitarian review led to a positive outcome. In 2019, 121,570 people were granted refugee status in the EU-28 on grounds is based on national legislation, first instance, 53,230 were granted subsidiary protection status and 46,220 were granted residency on which explains why it is not applicable in humanitarian grounds. The main destination countries of first-time asylum applicants were Germany certain EU Member States. See ‘Going (22% of all first-time applicants to Member States in 2019), France (18%), Spain (17%), Greece (11%), the Further – Annexes and Tables’ – Graph United Kingdom (7%), and Italy (5%). 1.2 – Outcome of first instance decisions Syria was the main country of origin of asylum seekers in the European Union Member States in 2019, relative to number of asylum applications a position it has held since 2013 (11% of the total number of asylum seekers). Syria was followed by (from third country applicants), 2019. Afghanistan (8%), Venezuela (6%), Iraq (5%), Pakistan and Colombia (4%). In 2019, in the EU-28, almost 5 four-fifths of asylum seekers (77%) were under 35 years old.5 People aged 18-34 years represented just Eurostat, 2020. See ‘Going Further – under half (48%) of the total number of applicants, while almost one third (29%) were minors under 18 Annexes and Tables’ – Graph 1.3 – First years of age. time asylum seekers by age (third country applicants) in the EU Member States and the EFTA, 2019.

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RIGHT TO ASYLUM: EUROPE- single market without internal borders and the WIDE HARMONISATION PROVES problems managing displaced people (due to CHALLENGING conflicts in the Balkans and the crumbling com- Asylum, derived from the Greek ‘asylon’ meaning munist regimes) led to asylum and immigration 6 issues being integrated into EU treaties – the https://www. ‘safe from violence’ and ‘sanctuary’, is the right of ohchr.org/EN/ removal of internal EU borders had to go hand- ProfessionalInterest/ an individual to seek refuge. . In 1950, following Pages/ in-hand with compensatory measures such as StatusOfRefugees. the Second World War, which led to 40 million aspx people being displaced, the protection of refu- strengthening external borders and cooperation 7 gees’ rights was entrusted to the newly created in the fields of asylum and immigration. With the https://www. entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, ohchr.org/EN/ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ProfessionalInterest/ asylum became a Union competency, although Pages/ (UNHCR). The founding text for the international StatusOfRefugees. limited by the framework of intergovernmental aspx protection of refugees – the Geneva Convention 8 adopted 28 July 1951 by the UN and ratified by 145 cooperation. The Treaty of Amsterdam, which The instruments party states – defined refugee status for the first entered into force in 1997, introduced the legal adopted in the first phase of the time in international law, stated the rights per- framework and supranational competence of CEAS are: the the European Union in immigration and asylum EURODAC Regulation taining to this status and the legal obligations on (regarding matters. The Common European Asylum System comparison of signatory states in this regard.6 The Convention’s fingerprints, 2000); (CEAS) was officially referred to for the first time the Temporary fundamental principle is ‘non-refoulement’, Protection Directive in the conclusions of the 1999 Tampere Summit, (on minimum meaning that a refugee must not be returned to standards for along with other international protection legis- giving temporary a country where their life or freedom are under protection in the lation.8 The minimal standards prescribed in the event of a mass serious threat. In 1967, the New York Protocol influx of displaced 2003 Reception Conditions Directive9 derive their persons, 2001); the enabled all refugees to be included regardless of Dublin II Regulation substance from the fact that ‘Member States shall and the Regulation their country of origin and the date of events they laying down make provisions on material reception condi- detailed rules for the are fleeing, therefore complementing the Geneva application of the tions to ensure a standard of living adequate for Dublin Regulation Convention which only concerned European (establishing 7 the health of applicants and capable of ensuring the criteria and refugees fleeing events prior to 1 January 1951. mechanisms for their subsistence’. determining the A refugee is any person who, ‘owing to well- Member State responsible for founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of Access to adequate housing for those applying for examining an race, religion, nationality, membership of a par- asylum application, and benefiting from international protection is an 2003); the Reception ticular social group or political opinion, is outside Conditions integral part of any functioning asylum system. Directive (on the country of his nationality and is unable or, Within the framework of the CEAS, the recast minimum reception conditions, 2003); owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of Reception Conditions Directive and the recast the Qualification Directive (on the protection of that country; or who, not having Qualification Directive set the standards that EU minimum standards for the qualification a nationality and being outside the country of Member States must meet in this respect. The and status of third country nationals his former habitual residence as a result of such most recent efforts to harmonise asylum rights or stateless persons as refugees, 2004); events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwill- in EU Member States have involved adopting the and the Asylum Procedures ing to return to it.’ recast Asylum Procedures Directive in 2013 as well Directive (on asylum procedures, 2005). as the respective recasts of the Dublin Regulation, The European Union has been working on the the EURODAC Regulation and the Reception 9 development of a common European asylum https://eur-lex. Conditions Directive. europa.eu/ regime for the last 30 years, as it shares compe- LexUriServ/ LexUriServ tence with Member States on migration policy. The Reception Conditions Directive aims to guar- .do?uri=OJ:L:2003: 031:0018:0025:EN:PDF At the beginning of the 1990s, the prospect of a antee asylum seekers access to housing, food,

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10 clothing, healthcare, education for minors and has the right to apply for asylum on European For more information on the employment under certain conditions. However, territory. European legislative and historical the current Directive gives significant discretion- perspectives on In reality however, the EU asylum application asylum rights: see ary powers in the definition of what constitutes an ‘Going Further – process is like an obstacle course, which starts Annexes and Tables’ adequate standard of living and how it should be in this Overview. even before arrival on European soil. Reaching achieved. As such, reception conditions continue 'sanctuary' offered by Europe is often the cul- 11 to vary considerably between Member States, Migreurop (2017), mination of a long, difficult and even trauma- ‘3e Edition de both in terms of organisation of the reception l’Atlas des migrants tising journey, particularly when normal routes en Europe – systems and in terms of guaranteed minimum Approches critiques are not an option, leaving only dangerous and des politiques standards for asylum seekers. migratoires’ [3rd unsafe routes. In the last 25 years, almost 40,000 edition of the atlas of migration in Another key element of this legal framework immigrants have been reported missing or dead Europe – Critical approaches to is the Dublin Regulation, which establishes the from drowning or exhaustion at the borders of migration policies], 176 p. [available in Member State responsible for examining the ‘Fortress Europe’. In 2016, more than 6,000 immi- French at] http:// www.migreurop.org/ asylum application. The Dublin III Regulation, grants died crossing the Mediterranean, the most article2841.html which entered into force in July 2013, contains deadly year so far. 11 procedures for the protection of asylum seek- 12 European policy, which is based on strengthen- European Asylum ers that are supposed to ‘improve the system's Support Office ing the external borders, chose to externalise (EASO), made up of efficacy’. In May 2016, in the framework of its Frontex and Europol. border control by creating, for example, Reception proposed reform of the CEAS, the Commission and Identification Centres, commonly known as 13 presented a draft proposal aiming to make Migreurop (2018), ‘hotspots’ in Greece and Italy. Initiated by the ‘Le détournement the Dublin system more transparent and to progressif de Commission in 2015, these facilities for treat- l’approche hotspot strengthen its efficacy, while providing a mech- en Italie’ [The ing asylum applications are led by the European gradual hijacking of anism to deal with the wide discrepancies in 12 the hotspot approach border management authorities and include in Italy], available [in pressure on Member States’ systems.10 French] at: http:// representatives from national authorities. They www.migreurop.org/ are intended to enable rapid identification and article2902.html ARRIVING IN EUROPE: registration of migrants, as well as take finger- 14 AN OBSTACLE COURSE https://infocrisis. prints. In Italy, reports have criticised how the gov.gr/7111/ national-situational- The right to asylum is intrinsically linked to primary functions of the ‘hotspots’ have been picture-regarding- the-islands-at- the principle of non-refoulement: enshrined in misappropriated to create detention camps and eastern-aegean-sea- 10-12-2019/?lang Article 33 of the Geneva Convention and under- gateways to deportation, where many viola- =en&fbclid=IwAR0O P6woTOTao_Kv81NC pinned by Article 3 of the European Convention tions of fundamental rights and asylum rights wLAnQIoQlbN11Vpv 13 9U5b4ii7xZNxymit on Human Rights, it forbids Member States who have been reported. In Greece, on 10 December FYIqGmE receive asylum seekers on their territory to 2019, across all the Reception and Identification 15 See Migreurop (2018), send them back to their country if they could be Centres, 37,101 people (men, women and children) ‘Moria, l’enfer sur exposed to danger or persecution. Article 18 of were living in the inhuman conditions of camps terre’ [Moria, hell on earth], available [in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental intended to hold a maximum of 6,178 people.14 The French] at: http:// www.migreurop.org/ Rights states that the right to asylum must be living conditions in these camps is utterly deplor- article2895.html et and the EUObserver guaranteed with respect to the rules decreed by able with several organisations and observers (2019), ‘Greece need to face reality about the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 and the referring to them as ‘hell on earth’.15 In October asylum seekers’, available at: https:// Protocol Relating to the status of refugees of 31 2019, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for euobserver.com/ opinion/146142?utm_ January 1967, in accordance with the founding Human Rights urged the Greek government to source=euobs&utm_ medium=email treaties of the European Union. Any individual urgently transfer asylum seekers stuck on the

FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE - FEANTSA | FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 35 # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE . 16 https://www. coe.int/en/web/ commissioner/-/ greece-must- urgently-transfer- asylum-seekers- Aegean Islands and to improve living conditions under the Asylum, Migration and Integration from-the-aegean- islands-and-improve- at the reception facilities.16 The situation has Fund, which makes up to EUR 4,000 available living-conditions-in- reception-facilities become particularly drastic since the beginning per person per year. It also usually provides one 17 of the COVID-19 pandemic and the European year of housing via a sublet, with comprehensive Human Rights Watch (2020), ‘Greece: healthcare crisis that has followed. While the support. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, people Nearly 2,000 new arrivals detained right to seek asylum was suspended in Greece on who are resettled are entitled to housing and in overcrowded, 1 March 2020, restrictions on freedoms, arbitrary social support for a minimum of one year. Since mainland camps’, 31 March 2020, detention and the violation of asylum seekers’ 2015, throughout the entire European Union, available at: https:// www.hrw.org/ fundamental rights have become commonplace. more than 65,000 refugees have benefited from news/2020/03/31/ greece-nearly- A report by Human Rights Watch has denounced resettlement programmes, which facilitate safe 2000-new- arrivals-detained- the detention of more than 2,000 asylum seekers migratory routes and protect the fundamental overcrowded- mainland-camps who have arrived since 1 March in unacceptably rights of the people concerned.21 overcrowded conditions with a lack of food and 18 European basic hygiene facilities, which has enabled the DEFINITIONS AND OUTLINES Commission (2015), ‘Relocation of 120 000 virus to spread within this already very vulnera- OF THE REPORT refugees – European ble population.17 Commission Statement following In this report, we will mainly look at the recep- the decision at These ‘hotspots’ are also intended to enable the the Extraordinary tion and accommodation conditions for asylum Justice and Home resettlement of people who are recognised as Affairs Council’, seekers and beneficiaries of international protec- Press release – having a ‘clear’ need for international protection tion, which includes: 22 September 2015,available at: in European countries (according to quotas per https://ec.europa. • Asylum seekers who have applied or wish eu/commission/ country which are not always agreed upon), in presscorner/ to apply for asylum in an EU country and detail/en order to relieve the pressure on the two main /STATEMENT_ are awaiting the authority's decision. 15_5697 reception countries. In September 2015, the 19 European Commission proposed a plan to reset- • Be neficiaries of international protection European tle 120,000 people over two years.18 However, the who have obtained refugee status, subsidi- Commission (2017), ‘Relocation and rate of resettlement has been lower than desired ary protection or humanitarian protection. resettlement’, available at: https:// and its implementation a failure: by September ec.europa.eu/ These people apply for protection on European home-affairs/sites/ 2017, i.e. at the end of the programme, only 27,695 homeaffairs/files/ Union territory, which is provided for by binding what-we-do/policies/ people had been resettled. France, for example, european-agenda- legislation. However in reality, the fundamen- had committed to receiving 20,000 asylum seek- migration/20170904_ tal rights of a large number of these people are factsheet_ ers but only 4,278 had been resettled in the coun- relocation_and_ denied, as evidenced by unfit and degrading resettlement_en.pdf try by that date.19 20 reception facilities and living conditions. The European Only by receiving humanitarian visas or being Common European Asylum Regime, as it cur- Commission (2017), op. cit. part of a resettlement programme – limited and rently stands, results in standards for the con- 21 managed by UNHCR outside of the European ditions of reception that, while weak in terms of European Union – can asylum seekers arrive in Europe protecting fundamental rights, at least exist. The Commission (2019), ‘Resettlement: EU through regular channels. The European question therefore arises as to what minimum Member States' pledges exceed Resettlement Scheme was proposed by the conditions of reception and accommodation 30,000 places for 2020’, Press release European Commission and adopted by the exist for people who fall outside the framework – 18 December 2019, available at: Council in July 2015. 20 People who are reset- of European protection. To the above-mentioned https://ec.europa. eu/commission/ tled are generally subject to a specific type of categories, we can then add to our analysis presscorner/detail/ en/ip_19_6794 reception. In France, temporary reception falls ‘dublinised’ people, i.e. those who are subject to

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decisions under the Dublin Regulation in order and preserve the family unit if there are minor to be returned to the first country they arrived children. Furthermore, the CJEU also made pre- in to apply for asylum there. We will also look at cisions in the event of reception infrastructure the case of migrants in transit, who have not yet being overcrowded. Member States can, in this applied for asylum but wish to do so in a country case, send asylum seekers to the relevant struc- other than the one they are currently residing in, tures of the state welfare system as long as the and rejected asylum seekers who, as they are not minimum standards enshrined in the Directive considered asylum seekers or beneficiaries of are respected. international protection, see their fundamental The range of solutions outlined by the European rights systematically endangered by the absence regulation is therefore wide-ranging. Insofar of guarantees of access to minimum reception as adequate living conditions guarantee sub- and accommodation conditions. sistence and ensure the protection of people’s All of these people are vulnerable by virtue of physical and mental health, the reception condi- their administrative status, and face housing tions provided by Member States can amount to exclusion and housing deprivation. anything ranging from emergency accommodation to individual housing units, and even hotel The concept of ‘material reception conditions’ accommodation. refers to the definition given in the Reception Conditions Directive. As we have seen, these conditions must provide applicants with ‘an adequate standard of living guaranteeing their subsistence and protecting their physical and mental health’ (Art. 17(2)). This includes ‘housing, food and clothing, either provided in kind, or as financial allowances or in vouchers, or a combination of the three, and a daily expenses allowance’ (Art. (2)). Article 18 (1) of the Directive states that when housing is provided in kind, it must be in the form of ‘premises used for the purpose of housing applicants during the examination of an application for international protection made at the border or in transit zones’, ‘accommodation centres which guarantee an adequate standard of living’ and/or ‘private houses, flats, hotels or other premises adapted for housing the applicants’. The CJEU had the opportunity to provide its interpretation of the extent of Member States’ obligations in the matter, which allowed for a more precise definition of what the concept of the right to material reception conditions entails. So, when they are allocated in the form of financial support, they must be adequate to cover housing in the private sector

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WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about the practical implications of asylum seekers' right to material reception conditions (when rights begin, financial support and alternatives in the event of overcrowding)?

Saciri & Others v Belgium22 | 2014 | CJEU

A family applying for asylum in Belgium was informed by the agency responsible for reception that they could not be provided with accommodation. Unable to find accommodation on the private market, the family applied for financial support from another agency which refused them on the basis that they were not housed within the public reception system, despite the fact that no accommodation was available for them. The initial reception agency was obliged by judicial authority to provide the family with financial support. Appealing this decision, the Brussels Higher Labour Court (Arbeidshofte) demanded clarification from the CJEU regarding the State’s obligation to provide financial support to asylum seekers, under the Reception Conditions Directive. The Court stated that:

➠ Asylum seekers have the right to material reception conditions (MRC) from the moment the application is made. ➠ If support is provided in the form of financial assistance, the amount must besufficient to ‘guarantee a dignified standard of living and [be] adequate for the health of applicants and capable of ensuring their subsistence by enabling them to obtain housing, if necessary, on the private rental market’. ➠ If the specialised reception centres are overcrowded, Member States can ‘make payment of the financial allowances using the bodies which form part of the general welfare system as intermediary’ but these bodies must respect the minimum standards laid down in the Directive. Overcrowded facilities cannot be used to justify failure to meet these standards.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about conditions for limiting or withdrawing the right to material reception conditions?

Zubair Haqbin v Federal Agency for the reception of asylum seekers, Belgium23 |2019|CJEU

An asylum seeker – who was also an unaccompanied minor – was housed in a centre where he was involved in an altercation. The centre director decided to exclude him from the material assistance provided by the reception centre for 15 days, during which the applicant had to sleep rough or stay 22 with third parties. It is important to clarify that Article 20 of the Reception Conditions Directive allows Cas C-79/13, Saciri for the possibility for Member States to limit or withdraw the benefit of material reception conditions, and Others, 27 February 2014 | on the basis of certain provisions listed in the article and ‘in duly justified exceptional circumstances’. European Database Point four of this same article also states that sanctions can be applied in cases where the is a serious of Asylum Law: https://www. violation of the centre’s rules or particularly violent behaviour has occurred. The CJUE stated that: asylumlawdatabase. eu/en/content/ ➠ It is cjeu-decision- not possible to provide for ‘a sanction consisting in the withdrawal, even temporary, of case-c-7913-saciri- material reception conditions [...] relating to housing, food or clothing in so far as it would have and-others-27- february-2014 the effect of depriving the applicant of the possibility of meeting his or her most basic needs’. 23 ➠ Th e sanctions provided for in Article 20.4 of the Directive, in cases where the is a serious viola- Cas C-233/18: http:// tion of the centre’s rules or particularly violent behaviour has occurred, must be proportionate curia.europa.eu/ juris/document/ (with regard to the person’s situation) and respect the principle of respect for human dignity. document. jsf?text=&docid= This judgement is hugely important given that several Member States (for example Belgium, the 222184&pageIndex= 0&doclang=EN&mode Netherlands, Romania, Italy, Spain, Greece) currently authorise the withdrawal of material reception =lst&dir=&occ=first& conditions as a sanction to punish a serious violation of the accommodation centre's rules or violent part=1&cid=3726584 behaviour.

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FigureSTEPS 7: OF Steps THE ofASYLUM the asyl PROCEDUREum procedure AND and tim TIMESPANSespans required REQUIRED by EU lawBY EU LAW

Assessment of responsible (Possible (Pre-, and) EU MS under Hearing First- second- Issuance Making an Registration Lodging Dublin of the instance instance of residence application of application of claim Regulation applicant decision decision) permit

days months

24 Source: FRA, 2019 Integration of young refugees in the EU: good practices and challenges ECRE, Asylum Information Database (2019), ‘Housing out of reach? The reception of refugees and ‘Access to adequate accommodation for people effective? Do these conditions enable the main asylum seekers in Europe’. seeking and granted international protection objective of the right to asylum to be met, i.e. 25 is part and parcel of any functioning asylum protection of those who benefit from it? If this is This document is not system.’ 24 The current chapter focuses on ana- not the case, can we argue that there is a 'recep- a report on migration policies; there is lysis of the material conditions for reception, tion and right to asylum crisis' in Europe? an abundance of information on accommodation and access to housing for the consequences/ This report will try to respond to these questions asylum seekers – including those in the Dublin results of this: while focusing on the living conditions of people see Migreurop procedure – and people benefiting from inter- (http://www. concerned at different stages of their journey. migreurop.org/), national protection, and their consequences EPIM – European Nine countries – eight of which are European Programme for on living conditions, on health (physical and Integration and Union Member States – where asylum applica- Migration (https:// mental), on education, on employment, and on ec.europa.eu/ tions were highest in 2019 have been selected knowledge4policy/ the path to inclusion.25 Do the conditions for node/6918_fr), PICUM for the comparative analysis: Germany, France, (https://picum.org/), reception, accommodation and access to hou- European Parliament Greece, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, (https://www. sing contribute to making the right to asylum 26 europarl.europa. Belgium and the United Kingdom. eu/factsheets/ en/sheet/152/ immigration- policy)... 26 The United Kingdom was still a European By choosing these nine countries for the comparative analysis, we do not wish to hide the fact that in Union Member State (up until 31 January the other European Union countries, there was a tendency for people in exile to be over-represented 2020) when this among the homeless – in Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Slovenia and Portugal, the available report was being 27 written; we decided data shows how very exposed migrants are to homelessness and housing exclusion . to keep it in the analysis. This report was finalised on 17 April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The information, data and 27 analysis herein were therefore written before this date. For detailed data, see Chapters I and III of this report.

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28 Directive 2013/32/ EU, adopted by the European Parliament and Council in 2013, replacing Directive 2005/85/ CE on minimum standards in Member States’ procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status. https:// eur-lex.europa.eu/ legal-content/EN/ TXT/PDF/?uri= CELEX:32013L0032 &from=en Photo : Mauro Striano | Eleonas camp for asylum seekers – Athens, Greece

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SEEKING REFUGE: INADEQUATE RECEPTION 1. AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

The European framework of procedures for Committee has pointed to the consequences of 29 managing asylum applications are defined in increasing delays in asylum procedures, leav- https://www.cire.be/ 28 sept-organisations- the Asylum Procedures Directive. It establishes ing people stuck for several weeks in the Initial attaquent-letat- belge-sur-la-limite- clear rules regarding the submission of appli- Accommodation, intended for very temporary dacces-a-loffice- des-etrangers/ ; cations, in order to ensure that any individual stays (19 days maximum), which has particularly case of Maximilian Park, in Brussels in wishing to gain international protection has the detrimental effects on the living conditions of French]: https://www. moustique.be/16651/ chance to do so quickly and efficiently. Once sub- women, including pregnant women and young que-reste-t-il-du- 32 parc-maximilien mitted, the application must be registered within mothers. Since the beginning of the European 30 three days maximum (Article 6) and examined in health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, https:// principle within six months (Article 31). Adequate several Member States have adapted the right to medecinsdumonde. be/actualites- information along with legal assistance must be asylum and the related procedures, highlighting publications/ actualites/a- guaranteed to asylum seekers, who also have the radically different policy approaches taken maggie-de-block- 33 nouvelle-secretaire- the right to stay in the Member State during the by each country. detat-a-lasile-et-a- la#undefined entire time their application is being considered The material reception conditions that Member 31 (Article 9). In practice, in certain EU Member States must provide to asylum seekers are deter- https://www.rtbf. be/info/belgique/ States, there have been several cases where mined by the Reception Conditions Directive.34 detail_les-quotas- journaliers-de- people are required to wait, often without shelter Through this Directive, asylum seekers are demandes-d-asile- suspendus?id and in appalling conditions, before being able granted rights to these conditions from the =10103286 to submit their asylum application. This was moment their application is submitted. They 32 reported in Brussels,29 where a daily limit was Home Affairs must then have access to housing, food, clothing, Select Committee set on access to the Immigration Office on 22 (2017), ‘Asylum healthcare, education for minors, and employ- Accommodation’, November 2018 by the Belgian government, lim- ment, under certain conditions. The legislation available at: http:// bit.ly/2n0KUwI. iting the number of asylum applications to 60 per makes it clear that the measures regarding 33 day, and leaving hundreds of people deprived of material reception conditions must ensure See the section on how the health their rights and of getting their application con- applicants have ‘an adequate standard of living crisis is impacting asylum seekers in sidered, without support or accommodation pro- guaranteeing their subsistence and protecting the second chapter of this report. vided. According to Médecins du Monde, a baby their physical and mental health’ (Article 17). The 34 that was just a few months old was found suffer- Directive also highlights the situation of vulner- Directive 2013/33/ ing from hypothermia in the queue outside the able people, particularly unaccompanied minors EU of 26 June 2013 laying down Immigration Office before being taken into the and torture victims: Member States must, among standards for the reception of emergency department.30 The Belgian Council of other things, conduct an individual evaluation applicants for international State suspended the daily quotas in the end, on in order to identify the specific reception needs protection (recast) https://eur-lex. the grounds that the quotas ‘had made it excep- of vulnerable asylum seekers and to ensure they europa.eu/legal- content/en/ tionally difficult to exercise individuals' funda- have access to medical and psychological sup- ALL/?uri=celex%3 31 A32013L0033. mental rights’. In England, the Home Affairs port. However, by not defining what constitutes

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an adequate standard of living and how to guar- Often, when they arrive to interview, their concern antee it, the current Directive leaves Member is not the asylum application but that we find them States with a significant amount of discretion. somewhere to live for that very night. They are in As a consequence, the material reception con- survival mode. [...] Someone who is sleeping rough 35 ditions vary significantly, in terms of how the and has not eaten for days, is in no condition to A reference system, the practices in place and the reception concentrate, understand our questions, let alone document by the European conditions are structured.35 respond to them.37 Asylum Support Office (EASO) was » published in 2016 How is this European legal framework imple- to support Member States in the mented, particularly with regard to accommo- THE DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC implementation of key provisions dation, by EU Member States? We will mainly RESPONSIBILITIES WITH REGARD of the Reception Conditions Directive: deal with the issue of accommodation here; the TO ACCOMMODATION EASO (2016), issue of financial assistance has been addressed EASO Guidance Producing this report has served to highlight on Reception in the annex.36 conditions: how extremely diverse standards and practices Operational standards and are among Member States concerning the dis- indicators, available at: https://www. The problem now, with the acceleration of the tribution of public responsibilities with regard to easo.europa.eu/ « sites/default/ application review due to the 2018 law, is that we are accommodation for asylum seekers, refugees and files/EASO%20 Guidance%20on%20 getting people who have just arrived. These people homeless people. reception%20 conditions%20-%20 are in dire poverty, without accommodation, sup- operational%20 standards%20and%20 port or medical care. They are utterly distressed. indicators%5B3%5D. pdf 36 For more information on financial assistance, see ‘Going Further – Annexes and Tables’, Table legend Table 2.1 – Financial assistance for ------Significant verlappingo of general emergency accommodation (for homeless people) and specialised asylum seekers. accommodation for asylum seekers 37 In Reception capacity Statement purple (translated) In orange Reception durations of Evelyne, an employee at OFPRA (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Responsibilities Stateless Persons), Responsibilities with regard to Responsibilities with regard to with regard to France Inter (2019), Country accommodation of asylum seekers accommodation for beneficiaries of accommodation https://www. franceinter.fr/ and reception capacity international protection for homeless ce-qui-me-gene-c- people38 est-le-traitement- differencie-selon- les-nationalites-des- _ No statutory period after which officiers-de-l-ofpra- asylum seekers must exit temoignent accommodation _ Mandatory distribution by the Ministry of 38 the Interior (federal) _ No specialised reception housing Sources: ESPN stock/use of the private and social Municipal _ Specialised accommodation financed at country files 2019 Germany housing stock (rental assistance services, NGOs and FEANTSA federal level and managed/implemented by country files schemes) and charities (updated each year). the Federal States (Länder) _ Obligation to reside in the Länder 39 where the asylum application was In accordance with a submitted/mandatory distribution by 2016 law/Section 12a the authorities39 of the Residence Act.

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_ Mandatory distribution by Fedasil/Ministry for Migration & Integration _ Specialised accommodation managed by _ statutory period after which asylum Fedasil, which can delegate to a third party seekers must exit accommodation: by agreement Two months (one-month extension is Municipal Belgium possible if reasonable) services and _ In January 2019, the reception system as a NGOs whole had 21,014 places (90% of which were _ No specialised reception housing occupied) stock/use of the private housing stock _ A verage period asylum seekers spend in a reception centre: 13.5 months

_ No differentiation between accommodation for asylum seekers and for beneficiaries of international protection _ System divided into three steps: ‘phase 0’ first reception ‘phase 1’ reception and beginning _ Mandatory distribution (on a needs/case- of path to integration with by-case basis) by the Social Work Depart- accommodation in a collective centre ment (Ministry of Labour, Migrations and or in an apartment (managed by the Social Security) and/or NGOs government or by associations); 9,129 places in 2019 _ Networ k of collective reception centres ‘Phase 2’ (in general after six to Municipal (CAR & CETI) managed by the Ministry of nine months) in independent Spain Labour, Migrations and Social Security and services, NGOs accommodation with financial and and charities network of reception facilities managed by social support of the programme NGOs (mandated by the Ministry). (managed by associations); 18,258 _ In 2019, there were 3,801 places in ‘phase 0’, places in 2019 first reception _ statutory period after which asylum seekers must exit accommodation: Six months _ Total duration = 18 months (may be extended to 24 months for vulnerable people) _ Methodology for intervention that adapts the steps to people's level of independence

_ Mandatory distribution to the regions by the OFII (French Office of Immigration and Inte- gration = public body under the Ministry for _ statutory period after which asylum the Interior) seekers must exit accommodation: _ Management of the first reception pro- Six months State visions by the OFII as well as public and _ CPH (provisional accommodation (decentralised private partners centres) for beneficiaries of services/SIAO = integrated _ Managem ent of the accommodation pro- international protection = nine France reception and visions for asylum seekers by the State's months (possible extension of three orientation decentralised services (prefecture level) months), 5,207 places at the end of services), and departmental services, not-for-profit 2018 municipal organisations, public-private partnerships _ Use of specialised housing and services, NGOs (ADOMA) existing public housing _ 86,592 places as of 31/12/2018 (emergency accommodation, CADA, CAES)

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_ No systematic mandatory distribution (in practice assured via regulatory decisions by the Director of Asylum Services) _ Geographic restrictions for people affected by the EU-Turkey deal and the fast-track _ Statutory period after which Municipal border procedure (Aegean Islands) asylum seekers must exit the ESTIA services, _ Responsibility for reception provisions programme: Six months National Centre is undertaken by RIS (Reception and _ HELIOS programme is pending for Social Greece Identification Service) & the Department (with little clarity on how it will be Solidarity for the protection of asylum seekers, under implemented) (EKKA, public the Ministry of Migration + UNHCR's ESTIA _ Otherwise, no specialised reception body), NGOs and programme for vulnerable asylum seekers housing charities _ Temporary reception centres (estimate for the mainland): 16,110 places as of 07/09/2018 _ UNHCR: 23,156 places as of 02/01/2019 _ See below for the situation in ‘hotspots’

_ No statutory period for moving towards ‘second-line’ accommodation (SIPROIMI) for beneficiaries of international protection and no right to remain in accommodation for _ Mandatory distribution on the basis of avai- asylum seekers (different practices lable places (and mandatory transfers) at the discretion of prefectures, _ Places occupied in hotspots (31/12/2018): permission to stay may be a few 453/in first reception centres: 8,990 (places months, a few weeks, or a few days) closed in 2019)/CAS (emergency reception _ Places occupied in SIPROIMI centres, meant for use in ‘exceptional’ (formerly SPRAR), accommodation Municipal circumstances and used in the event of for beneficiaries of international Italy services, NGOs shortage of space in first reception centres): protection and for unaccompanied and charities 138,503. foreign minors (31/12/2018): 25,657; - Coor dination by the national government management by local authority (Prefectures and Ministry of the Interior), networks and NGOs (public funds) management delegated on demand/tende- = specialised housing in operation, red to private social cooperatives and local especially the use of existing public authorities housing. Mandatory distribution. _ Access to public/social housing for beneficiaries of international protection under the same conditions as provided to Italian nationals (limited in certain regions)

_ Mandatory distribution system _ Mandatory distribution by the COA which finds housing solutions in _ First reception centres (COL, maximum cooperation with the local authorities; three days then POL during the asylum no statutory period after which people application procedure until temporary stay must leave (they leave when a housing is granted, about eight days) solution is found) = ‘pre-asylum’ centres, where people must _ The law obliges each local authority to Municipal The wait more than one year due to a lack of house a predefined number of people services and Netherlands decision-making personnel working on the asylum procedure who have a residence permit. Every NGOs six months, the government decides _ Asylum centres (AZC) 40 on the number of residence permit https://www. _ Management by the central governmental holders that the local authorities must rijksoverheid.nl/ agency for asylum seekers (COA) take (based on the size of the area)40 onderwerpen/ _ 22,576 places occupied in reception centres asielbeleid/ _ Specialised housing stock and use of huisvesting- managed by COA at the end of 2018 existing public housing asielzoekers-met- verblijfsvergunning

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_ Initial accommodation: 2,129 places occupied at the end of 2018; use of hotels and _ Statutory period after which asylum 41 B&Bs for first reception (19 days maximum seekers must exit accommodation: according to regulation but in practice, 28 days Local services Since 2016, asylum seekers can stay more than three beneficiaries of United No specialised accommodation for (councils and international Kingdom weeks there) districts), NGOs protection who do beneficiaries of international protection; not find housing in _ Then accommodation in individual housing use of the private housing stock, social and charities the private sector within the private sector/hostels housing/local council housing and are allocated to associations the municipalities _ Responsibility of the Home Office, who dele- by the Migration gates management to private companies Agency who are then responsible for housing these people; according to current legislation, the municipality _ Statutory period after which asylum cannot use a housing seekers must exit accommodation: shortage as a reason to refuse to find Two months, at the end of which accommodation for _ Mandatory distribution based on adminis- the obligation to house beneficiaries them. trative decision by the Migration Agency of international protection falls to (governmental) during the accommodation municipalities (for two years, during 42 process the settling-in process; after two European Municipal Observatory on _ 50-60% of asylum seekers live in housing years, rental contract can be stopped services, NGOs, Homelessness Sweden provided by the Migration Agency; 20,410 and beneficiaries must find their own charities (2016), Asylum places in reception centres; 27,129 places in housing – they can then register for and private seekers, refugees and 41 homelessness, EOH private-sector housing the waiting list for social housing) organisations Comparative Studies _ No specialised accommodation; use of No. 6. _ Temporary accommodation centres opened for a short period by municipalities in 2015 existing municipal housing 43 to cope with growing numbers of arrivals _ A verage transition period between Eurostat – migr_ being granted protection and moving asyappctza (2019). into municipal housing: 153 days in 44 2018 These Reception and Identification Centres exist on five Aegean Islands (Kos, Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros) and at The road to asylum is a process. It is critical to ral lack of affordable housing, in urban areas in Filakio/Evros, on the Turkish border. ascertain whether accommodation and dignified particular, leads to increased competition among 45 living conditions are available at each step of sectors of the public with specific requirements See the introduction ‘Arriving in Europe’ the process. Access to dignified reception and for access to dignified housing (migrants, home- for figures on 42 ‘hotspots’. accommodation of course correlates strongly less people, older people, young people, etc.). 46 with social policy and housing dynamics: a gene- https://www.lapresse. ca/international/ europe/201909/29/01- 5243352-grece- emeutes-dans-un- camp-de-refugies- apres-un-incendie- meurtrier.php 47 https://www.rtbf.be/ info/monde/detail_ grece-des-enfants- refugies-tentent- de-se-suicider- pour-echapper-aux- conditions-de-vie- des-camps ?id=10383834&fbclid =IwAR2bp_WcnpZEE fEyLQecr22bMGEg73 7gfXaAOqa52welpWy HEeSSWY9UWN4

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Outdated and unsuitable specialised accommodation 48 See BBC News systems: the institutionalisation video reports (2018), ‘The worst refugee of emergency accommodation camp on earth’, available at: https:// for asylum seekers THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNEQUAL www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8v-OHi3i DISTRIBUTION AMONG DIFFERENT GQI&feature=youtu. be and Konbini News EUROPEAN COUNTRIES (2019), ‘Dans l’enfer du camp de Samos’ [In hell at the Samos Specialised accommodation systems should in In Greece, the saturation of Reception and camp], available [in French] at: https:// principle enable people to be received with dig- Identification Centres (or ‘hotspots’), a system news.konbini.com/ lauded by the European institutions, is the most societe/grece-un- nity and to benefit from suitable supports, for the migrant-iranien- outrageous example of the fundamental rights sest-suicide-au- entire period that their application is being exam- camp-de-lesbos/ ined. Nonetheless, we will see how the the period of asylum seekers being violated with regard to 49 can turn out to be longer and how the number of material reception conditions. People locked in https://euobserver. com/migration/ available places in various state facilities is not these closed centres are facing many difficulties 147394?utm_ source=euobs&utm_ enough to meet the real demand. States therefore on a daily basis – overcrowding, lack of private medium=email unprotectedun end up using accommodation solutions that were space, vulnerability to bad weather, lack of safety supporteduncertain. in tents and makeshift huts, lack of medical ser- pdf intended for temporary use, but which become 50 long term, resulting in the institutionalisation vices and information, violence, etc. In the Moria See for example of emergency accommodation for asylum seek- camp on Lesbos, in December 2019, two people International Rescue Committee ers. All European countries, and all territories even died in a container fire. MSF have reported (2018), ‘Unprotected, unsupported, within these countries, are not however faced weekly cases of children attempting suicide. The uncertain – Recommendations to with the same circumstances. Different issues majority of children receive no education in the improve the mental health of asylum can be identified but they are generally the result camps. At Samos, reports highlight how rotten seekers on Lesvos’, food is being distributed, the appalling hygiene available at: https:// of a short-term perspective in terms of asylum www.rescue.org/ conditions, as well as rat and snake infestations. sites/default/files/ reception. document/3153/ Prolonged stays – some people have been there It is important to remember that the distribution 51 for three years – in such conditions have a On Lesbos for of asylum seekers among European countries is example, since dramatic impact on people's lives as well as on September 2016, de facto unequal. While 664,480 asylum applicants all new arrivals, their mental and physical health. It amounts to including children, registered in EU countries and Schengen States inhuman and degrading treatment. When ad hoc are detained as a 43 matter of course in 2018, 75% of these applications, i.e. 444,445 at the Moria camp procedures for sending people to the mainland for 25 days. After people, were made in five of the 32 countries, i.e. are permitted, those individuals have no right to this period, new , , , and . , arrivals receive an Germany France Greece Italy Spain Greece assistance, which leads to the creation of infor- asylum-seeker card and were not prepared for large (and with a geographical Italy Spain mal camps around official reception centres and restriction limiting fluctuating) numbers of arrivals. Their reception their freedom of increased vulnerability for these people, left to movement, forcing systems were unsuitable and inadequate even them to remain on their own devices on the street. the island. Since before the increased number of asylum seekers; June 2017, only Dublin family the chronic lack of investment in increasing and There is one toilet for 65 people, one shower for reunification 95 people. To be very clear, nobody should have to cases and improving reception capacity has led to repeated vulnerable Syrians ‘ live in these conditions. have received crises and a constant shortage of reception places, geographically unrestricted cards, regardless of the dynamics of the number of arriv- Caroline Willemen, coordinatrice pour MSF allowing them ’ to access the als (high or low), and regardless of the degree of à Lesbos pendant un an, à propos des conditions mainland. Other 52 vulnerable asylum pressure on the sector. d’hygiène à Moria

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seekers receive geographically unrestricted cards for one month allowing them to travel to the mainland and access medical services not available on the island. They are then obliged to When identification has taken place and the places – from 930 reception places managed in return to Lesbos for their asylum asylum application registered, there are often the first phase of reception by the government in procedure but often try to remain on long months or even years of waiting; for this, September 2015 to 9,129 places in December 2019, the mainland. See Danish Refugee a second reception stage has been provided for the country has been completely overwhelmed. Council (2017), ‘Fundamental in Greece – the ‘Programme for resettlement Civil society organisations have condemned Rights and the EU hotspot approach’, and emergency intervention’. Financed by the this reactive management that lacks any medi- available at: https:// www.statewatch. European Union and supervised by UNHCR, it um-term planning. The Spanish asylum system org/news/2017/ nov/danish- was created in November 2015 to offer accom- is organised into three phases: a ‘pre-phase’ of refugee-council- fundamental-rights. modation solutions to asylum seekers in apart- first reception, intended to last a maximum of pdf ments, buildings, with host families and in hotel 30 days, until the asylum application is made. 52 rooms. In July 2017, this first programme was RTBF (op. cit.) Then the ‘first phase’, intended to last the six 53 integrated into the European Commission’s months required for the asylum application to https://data2.unhcr. new ESTIA programme (Emergency Support to be evaluated and during which accommodation org/en/documents/ details/68924 ; see Integration and Accommodation), which aims to is provided (either in one of the four state-run part II of this chapter for more information provide housing and financial support to asylum Refugee Reception Centres or in an NGO-run on the ESTIA programme. seekers and beneficiaries of international pro- centre). Finally, the ‘second phase’, intended to 54 tection. In total, between November 2015 and last 12 months (can be extended to 24 months CIDOB (2019), ‘To March 2019, 57,583 people benefited from these in cases of extreme vulnerability) with the goal be or not to be: 53 Deficiencies in the programmes. being the individual's self-sufficiency and during Spanish Reception System’, available at: which financial support for housing is provided https://www.cidob. The geographic position of Greece makes it the org/en/publications/ first point of arrival from the Mediterranean, and (about EUR 375 per month for a single person). A publication_ series/notes_ thus the guardian of the registration and identi- growing number of Latin Americans, particularly internacionals/ n1_214/ fication missions that stem from the European Venezuelans, have applied for asylum in Spain to_be_or_not_to_be_ deficiencies_in_the_ institutions’ outsourcing of border management. in the last few years, evidence of the changes in spanish_reception_ system That said, Greece is not the only country with an asylum seekers’ country of origin. In parallel, the 55 overwhelmed first reception system. Spain, for available data shows a widespread increase in See country profile the proportion of homeless people who are from Spain/FEANTSA, example, has been an asylum country since the Inés et al, 2019:22. beginning of the 2010s, and is today among the third countries: in Barcelona, between 2015 and 56 Member States that receives the most applica- 2019, this proportion increased from 48% to 52% See country profile 55 Spain/FEANTSA, tions, but public policies have not adapted to this (definition including four ETHOS categories). In SIIS, 2018:69. and are slow to adopt regulatory frameworks and the Basque Country, between 2014 and 2018, this 57 to organise long-term planning to address the proportion increased from 65% to 75%.56 A recent CIDOB (2020), ‘Our House, Your House? issues.54 The annual number of asylum appli- exploratory study carried out by the CIDOB in Conditions and paths of access to housing cations has multiplied by a factor of 45 over six Catalonia revealed that 27% of the asylum seek- for asylum seekers and refugees in years, going from 2,565 in 2012 to 14,780 in 2015, ers asked had already had to sleep rough and 24% Catalonia’. https:// www.cidob.org/en/ 36,605 in 2017, 54,050 in 2018 and 117,795 in 2019. had lost their housing at least once for economic projects/our_house_ 57 your_house Despite the increase in the number of specialised reasons .

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58 This amount is intended to finance private accommodation; in USE OF EMERGENCY a formal part of the reception system, but do practice, it is not enough to enable ACCOMMODATION DUE TO not address the same needs in terms of qual- asylum seekers to find housing on the A LACK OF ADEQUATE SPECIALISED ity of accommodation and support for people. private market. PROVISIONS 59 Emergency accommodation is thus no longer To better understand In some countries, the use of emergency accom- used as a temporary solution to lack of places the complexity of accommodation modation for the medium or long term, due to in the reception system, but instead has become facilities for migrants in lack of specialised places for asylum seekers, is the default form of accommodation for certain France, see Cimade (2018, updated in typical of the institutionalisation of the use of categories of asylum seekers – for example, for 2019), ‘Typologie des dispositifs emergency accommodation: this is the case in people applying under the Dublin procedure who d’hébergement des personnes Greece, Italy, Spain and France. Where there is cannot access CADA. Having expanded the spe- exilées – accueil/ transit/contrôle/ significant overlapping of specialised accommo- cific measures since 2015, getting further away expulsion comment s’y retrouver?’ dation and general emergency accommodation, from statutory legislation and housing law, the [Classification of French government decided in 2019 to trans- accommodation asylum seekers are forced, at different stages measures for exiled form several provisions (ATSA, CHUM, PRAHDA, people – reception/ in their process, to use services for homeless transit/control/ and CAO) into HUDA. While this decision had deportation: how people. to find your way?] the benefit of simplifying the system, it is a less available [in This is particularly true of France, where mate- French] at: https:// demanding provision in which people do not www.lacimade. rial reception for asylum seekers usually takes org/publication/ benefit from the same reception conditions as in typologie-lieux- the form of accommodation and a welfare pay- hebergement- CADA. The main difference between HUDA and migrants/ ment. The welfare payment is EUR 6.80 per day, CADA lies in the supports (lack of legal assis- 60 raised to EUR 7.40 if no specialised accommo- tance in HUDA), the level of support, but also Foundation Abbé dation is available and if the asylum seeker is Pierre (2020), ‘25e the cost, the daily cost in CADA is EUR 19.50 per Rapport sur l’Etat du not otherwise accommodated.58 Asylum seekers Mal-Logement en person, compared to EUR 17 in HUDA.59 In some France 2020’ [25th are meant to be accommodated in specialised Report on the state CAOs, where the daily cost is higher (EUR 24 of housing exclusion facilities that are part of the country's National in France 2020], p. per person), there have been reports of a lack of 241, available [in Reception Provision. The traditional form of this French] at: https:// food, of medical staff, legal information or even www.fondation- provision is CADA (reception centres for asylum abbe-pierre.fr/ French classes. At the end of 2019, there were still documents/pdf/ seekers) which deliver, in addition to accom- reml2020_rapport_ 4,657 places in CAO to be transformed into HUDA complet_web.pdf ; modation, specific social and administrative see also FAS (2019), by 1 July 2020.60 ‘Publication des support. In parallel, in order to mitigate the lack cahiers des charges CADA et HUDA : of places within CADA, HUDA (emergency hous- For years, the number of available places within une évolution en demi-teinte’ ing for asylum seekers) was developed as well the national reception system has been largely [Publication of CADA and HUDA mission as several specialised tools, aimed at various insufficient to meet demand, despite doubling statement: partial implementation], categories of people based on their administra- the number of dedicated places in a six-year available [in French] at: https://www. tive status: ATSA (temporary reception-asylum period. On 31 December 2018, there were 86,425 federationsolidarite. 61 org/publics/refugies- centre), CAO (reception and orientation centre), places for 156,200 people who had applied for et-migrants/9774- 62 publication-des- PRAHDA (reception and accommodation pro- asylum. Less than half of asylum seekers could cahiers-des-charges- cada-et-huda-une- gramme for asylum seekers), CAES (reception be accommodated within the national asylum %C3%A9volution-en- 63 demi-teinte and administrative situation examination cen- system in 2018 (48%). When people obtain 61 tres) and DPAR (measures to prepare for assisted international protection or, conversely, are defin- OFII Annual Report return). The emergency accommodation (ATSA, itively rejected from the right to asylum, they 2018 [in French]: http://www.ofii.fr/ PRAHDA, CAO, HUDA) have become almost should be directed towards the relevant suitable IMG/pdf/RAA%20 OFII%202018-BD.pdf as large in size as the CADA centres and are facility. However, some places in the national

48 FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 | FEANTSA - FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS 62 FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE This figure includes adults and accompanying minors, regardless of the procedure they are are in – normal, accelerated or Dublin – as well as cancelled readmissions (people placed in the Dublin reception system are occupied by people whose phase, which can be in specialised centres or procedure before asylum application has been rejected, or by in apartments. To gain access, the person must 2018 but who were not transferred and people who have been granted international pro- have been granted a temporary residency (of six therefore France became responsible tection. Chronic under-budgeting of the national months, for the duration of the asylum proce- for examining the application reception system for asylum seekers and its dure), called a ‘C3’. However, depending on the in 2018) https:// www.immigration. consequences on emergency accommodation region, getting a C3 can take from a few days to interieur.gouv.fr/ Info-ressources/ have been pinpointed many times by the Court four months, during which no housing solution is Etudes-et- statistiques/ of Auditors64 and the French Senate.65 Despite offered – apart from general emergency accom- Statistiques/ Essentiel-de-l- continuing need, the freeze on CADA places in modation for homeless people, managed by the immigration/ Chiffres-cles the draft finance law for 2020 once again demon- associations and municipalities. Furthermore, 63 strates the deliberate budgetary shortfalls. The the delays in examining asylum applications in Draft finance law no way correspond to the six-month processing 2020, programme proliferation of emergency accommodation tools 303. contribute to complicating and creating confu- envisaged by the C3 – an interview with the ter- 64 sion around the reception of asylum seekers, ritorial commission can be scheduled up to three https://www. ccomptes.fr/system/ ‘that risks chipping away at the common right years after the application is registered. While files/2019-05/NEB- 2018-Immigration- that CADA accommodation should provide i.e. the residence permit allowed as part of the C3 for asile-integration.pdf the best support’ and promotes ‘administrative six months is renewable, this adds extra pressure 65 to the asylum seeker accommodation system70 – https://www.senat.fr/ practices that hollow out the right to accom- notice-rapport/2016/ 66 people must stay in the CAS and cannot access r16-193-notice.html modation’. The overlap between the general 66 accommodation system and the specialised SPRAR/SIPROIMI. Braud F., Fischer B. accommodation system is all the more signifi- Mandatory transfers from one accommodation & Gatelier K. (2018), ‘L’hébergement cant in France as access to general emergency centre to another can have harmful effects on des demandeurs d’asile à l’épreuve accommodation is – in principle – unconditional asylum seekers’ experience and efforts to inte- d’administrations 67 françaises en and permanent. grate: in Italy, asylum seekers are often moved crise. Une analyse locale : l’exemple from one CAS to another, in order to balance the de Grenoble’ In Italy, the CAS (Centri d’Accoglienza [Asylum seeker Straordinaria/Emergency Reception Centres) distribution across regions and provinces. These accommodation pushed to the brink were created in 2015 to provide first reception, transfers are decided by the prefectures and are by the French administration. A intended to be temporary to cover the period not subject to appeal. The first reception centre of local analysis: the Grenoble example.’], of identification and registering for asylum. Castelnuovo di Porto in Rome was, for example, La Revue des droits de l’homme [online], Asylum seekers then had to quickly enter the closed in January 2019 – more than 300 asylum 13 | 2018, available [in French] at: http:// SPRAR system (later SIPROIMI68) for protec- seekers housed there were transferred within a journals.openedition. org/revdh/3478 tion of asylum seekers and refugees. The lack week, without prior notice or information and 67 of places in SPRAR and many municipalities’ without any account taken of the individual's This principle of process, many having already created social unconditional access refusal to provide these services (the SPRAR to housing has bonds within the local population and labour been challenged by requires the support of local authorities and their 71 public authorities market. several times in willingness to manage reception on their terri- the last number of years: https://www. tory) have over time made CAS the main means The huge shortage of places has led to these lemonde.fr/societe/ article/2019/10/16/ of accommodating asylum seekers. As of now, situations being referred to as ‘reception crises’, hebergement-des- first reception takes place in collective centres migrants-le-115- rather than the commonly used expression sous-pression_ and in ‘hotspots’69 for a maximum duration of 48 . It is, in fact, the consequences 6015734_3224.html ‘migration crisis’ ?fbclid=IwAR3Y5xeto hours, in theory. Then accommodation is pro- of political decisions, and not the number of Livk5fFTU71nYqnnN 1o6aEDv7pfR7SB6Ec vided through the CAS in the second reception asylum seekers arriving, which is to blame for K9EFOvFPUem TCGoc

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68 See part II of this chapter. 69 There are four ‘hotspots’ in Italy: the failure of asylum policies and for the over- ually transforming the centres into places where Lampedusa (100 places), Pozzallo (300 whelmed general accommodation system – be freedom of movement is limited, have recently places), Messina (250 places) and Taranto it through under-budgeting, the absence of raised concerns in the voluntary sector.75 (400 places). medium-/long-term planning, the lack of avail- 70 In the United Kingdom, reception of asylum able places and even the closure of facilities for https://www. seekers, i.e. accommodation and a – low – basic asylumineurope. political reasons. In Belgium for example, the org/reports/country/ allowance are the responsibility of the Home italy/asylum- overcrowding of some asylum reception cen- procedure/ Office if the people concerned are destitute. The procedures tres is the direct result of political decisions /registration- management of accommodation is entirely del- asylum- made by the government to close facilities.72 In application#footnote egated to private companies – while these com- 9_1s2fceb November 2018, a Belgian asylum centre had to panies are theoretically obliged to house families 71 temporarily install tents and containers to meet How the transfer was in independent housing, the use of hotel rooms carried out has been demand – providing reception without sanita- roundly criticised. is common and the poor quality of accommodation or heating.73 This is a direct consequence of See [in Italian] tion is regularly criticised, with regard to safety, Redattore Sociale, the government and the former secretary of state ‘Non difendiamo i respect of private and family life and sanitary grandi centri ma for asylum and migration, Théo Francken, reduc- così è inumano’, 23 conditions.76 January 2019. ing the capacity of reception centres, coupled 72 with the axing of reserve places which existed to In the Netherlands, the first reception system Coordination and Initiatives absorb ‘peaks’ in asylum applications. is designed to address demand even when it for Refugees and is increasing, with accommodation in Asylum Foreigners (CIRE) In countries where the reception systems are (2019), available at: Centres standard practice. If there is a lack of https://www.cire.be/ better structured and organised, the lack of de-la-construction- places in these centres, emergency reception politique-d-une- places is not such a pressing issue: in Germany, crise-de-l-accueil/ et centres are used – exhibition centres, hol- https://www.rtbf.be/ first reception centres, managed by the Länder, info/belgique/detail_ iday centres, etc. – and in exceptional crises, asile-et-migration- aim to accommodate the asylum seeker for la-crise-de-l-accueil- emergency shelter can be requisitioned for a ne-vient-pas-d-un- between one and three days in order to proceed afflux-mais-de-la- maximum of 72 hours – gymnasiums, public fermeture-de-place- to registering and evaluating vulnerability and selon-le- buildings, etc. cire?id=10335231& specific needs. Then, people are transferred to fbclid=IwAR18d Wmig8FjtS temporary accommodation centres managed In all the countries that we are comparing here, qLrkIn1KkZXmI58 CD_gEucLvTobN46 by the voluntary sector. There is no shortage of mandatory geographic distribution of asylum tje7VzMqebreOt4 seekers across the national territory is organ- 73 places for asylum seekers. The public authorities https://www.rtbf.be/ still had recourse to vacant public buildings in ised by the central/national service for asylum/ info/regions/detail_ migration. People are forced to remain there centre-fedasil-de- emergencies (hospitals, police stations, gyms, jumet-des-tentes- via a geographic restriction obliging them to installees-en-urgen etc.) when the number of arrivals was particu- ce?id=10361320&fbcl larly high in 2015, but the majority of these emer- stay where they were assigned for the duration id=IwAR1FgAnt1IE2 kalbrQ29HWcs4Gyd gency reception centres were closed in 2017.74 of their procedure, without any choice in their 3DTqe6- XEEScsRphXKVfUR However, grouping several administrative bodies living environments. These redistribution poli- blfHCunvk ; https://www.fedasil. in the same first reception centres, with the aim cies were largely directed by the basis of avail- be/fr/actualites/ installation- of prioritising examination of people's admin- able places rather than on matching needs with temporaire-de- containers-au- istrative situation and limiting access to their the supply of available places.77 As the availabil- centre-de-charleroi rights and to adapted social support, while grad- ity of places is greater in areas of economic and

50 FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 | FEANTSA - FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE 74 With the exception of the accommodation facilities at Tempelhof airport where, according to the Berlin Council of Refugees, 1,000 asylum seekers were still living in appalling conditions in December 2018 while an equivalent number of places remained empty in new facilities due demographic decline, there can be challenges in legal assistance, integration support (language to organisational problems. The closure accessing employment and inclusion in general, lessons, access to education for children, etc.). of Tempelhof was finally announced in particular if proactive and targeted policies are The reception crisis has been exacerbated by the on 20 December 2018. https://www. not put in place locally. The existing literature increased overlap between general emergency asylumineurope. org/reports/country/ suggests that the distribution policies imposed accommodation and specialist accommodation germany/reception- conditions/housing/ by the State services are having a negative effect for migrants. In recent years, national legislative types-accommodation 75 on future employment and inclusion and are reforms on asylum rights and application of the http://www.migreurop. implemented without accompanying distribu- Dublin Regulation were used by European gov- org/article2908.html tion of resources.78 ernments to limit and/or complicate access to 76 accommodation for asylum seekers. Home Affairs Urgency, short-termism and weather-response Committee (2018), Asylum management are incoherent and inadequate Accommodation Inquiry, available foundations for public policies on housing, at: https://www. Access to dignified housing parliament.uk/ particularly with regard to the case of asylum business/committees/ conditions hindered by abuses committees-a-z/ seekers, which is characterised by sometimes commons-select/ of the Dublin Regulation and home-affairs- very long procedures (from six months to four committee/inquiries/ by a tightening up of national parliament-2017/ years) and a difficulty in predicting numbers of asylum- accommodation- arrivals. A high-quality and efficient reception legislation inquiry-17-19/ ; https:// www.asylumineurope. system is determined by the respect it shows org/reports/country/ united-kingdom/ for the principle of non-refoulement and for reception-conditions/ housing/types- European asylum rights, guaranteeing asylum accommodation Access to accommodation is closely linked seekers material reception conditions that to national legislation on the right to asylum. 77 prevent them from having to sleep rough and Denmark put in Nonetheless, several Member States have tight- place a hybrid providing dignified and suitable housing as well system, where people ened up their asylum legislation over the last who have been as adapted support. The quality of accommoda- granted protection number of years, which has led to asylum seek- and successfully tion provisions must respect the conditions of completed a three- ers having increased difficulties in accessing year integration dignity, decency, safety and respect for private programme in accommodation. While changes to procedures the designated and family life. The accommodation solution municipality can then for granting residence permits and to the per- choose where they offered must also take into account the stability want to live. See Part 2 mits themselves has led to loss of rights and loss for more details necessary for asylum seekers to safeguard them- of resources for specialised facilities in some 78 selves with regard to the obligations they must The Bartlett places, it is mainly through the application of Development fulfil regarding their asylum procedure. When Planning Unit the so-called Dublin procedure that States have University College the material reception conditions are offered in London (UCL) (2018), tried to circumvent their responsibilities regard- ‘Affordable housing – the form of financial allowances, the amount Policy and practices ing caring for people in conditions that respect – Social innovation in must ensure an adequate standard of living and housing for refugees’, human dignity. available at: https:// guarantee subsistence, which is very hard to www.uia-initiative. eu/sites/default/ achieve with the allowances currently offered In Italy, two decrees, including the October 2018 files/2019-02/ Curing%20the%20 by Member States. Access to basic services must Salvini Security Decree, have transformed their Limbo_report%20 on%20housing_ be guaranteed, including housing, food, health- procedures with the aim of restricting the right Feb%202019%20 79 %281%29.pdf care, sanitation, laundry facilities, storage space, to asylum:

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Before the October 2018 ‘Salvini Decree’ After the October 2018 ‘Salvini Decree’

Three possible residence permits: Withdrawal of humanitarian residence permit. A lot of uncertainty and refusals for people who _ Humanitarian residence permit, status unique had applied for humanitarian residence per- to Italy: based on early integration in Italy mits just before and during the ‘Salvini Decree’. (social network, education or work underway, Only procedures that had been started months etc.) and on the personal circumstances of the prior to the decree were successful. person in their country or within their family. Consequences: increase in vulnerable people Condition: have a minimum income of EUR (in poor mental and physical health) without 6,000 per year. Can last two or three years protection or accommodation. People who had depending on the situation, and can (with progressed significantly in their integration difficulty) be converted into a work-residence process risk being abandoned because of the permit. impossibility of renewing their residence For example, people from Eastern Mali during permit. the civil war. _ Creation of a new status: special protection: _ Subsidiary protection: renewable five-year one-year permit which cannot be renewed. permit (verification of the situation at each renewal – if the authorities consider that the situation has returned to ‘normal’, permit not 79 renewed). In February 2020, Giuseppe Conte's second government For example, natural disasters, persecutions, planned to amend the ‘security etc. decrees’ adopted by the Salvini government: https:// _ Political asylum: renewable five-year permit www.lesechos.fr/ monde/europe/ (greater protection). litalie-renonce-a- la-politique-anti- migrants-de-matteo- salvini-1172521 80 This reform led to an increase in the number In Greece, following the election of the new gov- On-site visit of vulnerable people who were without protec- ernment in July 2019, new measures on migra- to Milan/Italy FEANTSA/FAP & tion and facing homelessness. It also meant a tion and the protection of asylum seekers and questionnaire – Caritas Ambrosiana. drastic reduction in resources for the CAS. The refugees were announced. Against a backdrop of repressive closures of historic squats and 81 closure of a large number of places was justified https://www. evictions from transit camps,81 the law on inter- theguardian.com/ by the government who cited a ‘reduced flow’, as cities/2019/aug/26/ national protection (31 October 2019) reduced the athens-police- occurred in Belgium. These budget cuts led to poised-to-evict- length of a residence permit under subsidiary refugees-from- squatted-housing- reduced quality of housing, cases of overcrowd- protection from three years to one year, extended projects ; https:// www.aljazeera. ing and the stoppage of support services (legal the measures enabling detention of asylum com/news/2019/09/ refugee-eviction- aid, school support and language courses were seekers, announced the creation of new enclosed fury-greece-19092712 80 1649806.html all cut). reception centres, imposed a six-month delay

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82 Refugee Support between applying for asylum and accessing ing asylum applications – which is not necessar- Aegean (2019), ‘RSA Comments on the job market – prior to the law, access could ily the same State in which the application was the International be immediate – and altered the conditions for made. The Dublin III Regulation, which entered Protection Bill’, available at: appeal during the asylum process.82 into force in July 2013, contains measures https://rsaegean. org/wp-content/ 83 regarding the protection of asylum seekers and uploads/2019/10/ In Europe, the Dublin Regulation determines RSA_Comments_IPA. aims to improve the system's efficiency.84 pdf which Member State is responsible for examin- 83 Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about the right to reception conditions for determining the Member State ‘dublinised’ people? responsible for examining an application for Cimade & GISTI85 |2012|CJEU international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third- The Cimade and GISTI judgement challenges a French circular's compliance with European country national or a stateless person: regulation and the Reception Conditions Directive, in that it excludes asylum seekers from https://eur-lex. the right to welfare payments if they have been placed under the Dublin procedure. The CJEU europa.eu/eli/ reg/2013/604/oj accepted that the Reception Conditions Directive is applicable in such scenarios and, conse- 84 quently, asylum seekers placed under the Dublin procedure must have access to the minimum In May 2016, as part of its proposed reception conditions set by this Directive. reform of the Common European Asylum Regime, Regarding the personal and temporal reach of the Directive, the CJEU judgement accepts that the Commission presented the first the Member States must guarantee reception conditions to any person from a third country or version of a Dublin any stateless person who meets the following two conditions: IV Regulation, a proposal to make the Dublin system a. T hat an asylum application has been made at the border or on the territory of the more transparent, more efficient, Member State concerned; for this first condition, the CJEU reiterates the definition of an and to better manage situations asylum application and outlines that any request for international protection is presumed where there is disproportionately to be a demand for asylum, unless the person explicitly requires another form of protec- high pressure on Member States’ tion that can be applied for separately. asylum systems. b. The person concerned is permitted to stay on the territory of the Member State as an 85 asylum seeker. For this second condition, the CJEU accepts that a person can remain as C-179/11 – Cimade and GISTI: Cimade an asylum seeker: and Information and Support Group for - On the territory of the Member State where the application was made, during the Dublin Immigrants (GISTI) v Ministry of the procedure in which it is determined which Member State is responsible for examining Interior, Overseas the application; France, Local Authorities and - On the territory of the Member State responsible for examining the application, until Immigration: : http:// curia.europa.eu/ this examination is completed. juris/document/ document.jsf?text= Staying ‘on the territory’ can include staying at the border or in a transit zone. &docid=127563&page Index=0&doclang=en &mode=lst&dir=&occ =first&part=1&cid= 3709879

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86 Eurostat, 2020 – [migr_dubdi] & [migr_dubto] In 2018 in the EU-28, 94,397 applications were access to material reception conditions for dub- 87 Danish Refugee accepted under the Dublin procedure (up 91% since linised people, with the aim of ‘limiting secondary Council & Swiss 2015), but only 25,960 effective outgoing transfers Refugee Council movement’; these proposals are not in compliance (2018), ‘Mutual trust were carried out. Among these effective transfers, is still not enough with the European legislation in force (see text – The situation of 67% were carried out within a period of 1-6 months, 89 persons with special box above). In France, according to the principle reception needs 20% within a period of 7-12 months and 13% within transferred to Italy of unconditional reception, dublinised people are under the Dublin III a period of 13-18 months86 The national legislative Regulation’, available entitled to access emergency accommodation. at: https://www. reforms on asylum therefore particularly target refugeecouncil. France has an extra deadline before proceeding ch/assets/ ‘dublinised’ people, because these people do not herkunftslaender/ to transfer and these people can see their mate- dublin/italien/ ultimately depend on the competencies of the monitorerings rial reception conditions withdrawn in the event rapport-2018.pdf State in which they find themselves. In several of an unfavourable procedure. If the transfer has 88 countries, organisations describe people placed not been carried out by the deadline accorded to The time that asylum seekers under the Dublin procedure being particularly the French state, France becomes responsible are accommodated exposed to housing deprivation. The number of under the Dublin for the asylum application of that person, who procedure must be asylum seekers rejected from Italy under the devoted to achieving is thus ‘requalified’, i.e. they pass from a Dublin transfer’. French Dublin procedure almost tripled between 2013 Ministry of the procedure to a normal or accelerated procedure. Interior (2018), Note (2,500 people rejected) and 2018 (6,500 people of 6 July2018 on The reinstatement of material reception condi- keeping the 'flow' rejected). According to a report from the Danish going through the tions for ‘requalified’ people is not automatic and asylum-seeker and Swiss Refugee Councils, rejected asylum accommodation they must apply for it at the OFII (French Office of facilities. seekers in Italy under the Dublin procedure are Immigration and Integration); this reinstatement 89 faced with discrimination when accessing accom- https://www. can only be refused if the OFII can prove the indi- euractiv.fr/section/ modation, poor reception conditions and housing migrations/news/le- vidual concerned is not in a vulnerable position. gouvernement-veut- deprivation, not forgetting the risk of falling into couper-les-aides- 87 aux-migrants-qui- extreme poverty. In Belgium, a government measure – that has been ont-deja-demande- widely criticised by associations – was announced lasile-ailleurs/ In France, asylum seekers placed under the in January 2020. Its aim is to ban access to gen- 90 Dublin procedure have to be provided for only to After six months, a eral emergency accommodation to formerly dub- dublinised person the extent of the material reception conditions has the right to linised asylum seekers, i.e. people who, having apply for asylum they are entitled to. They cannot be housed in in Belgium and already been through the Dublin procedure, are therefore to benefit CADA, but they do have access to other accom- from legal, medical seeking asylum in Belgium at the end of their six- and financial modation provisions for asylum seekers, often protection. Access month latency period,90 and to people who have to housing would no emergency accommodation, such as HUDA or longer be guaranteed already been granted refugee status in another after this measure is PRADHA. However, asylum seekers can be subject implemented. https:// country but would rather reside in Belgium. In www.infomigrants. to mandatory measures such as house arrest until net/fr/post/21920/ Germany, a change of legislation on asylum in bruxelles-durcit- they are transferred. To keep a ‘flow’ going through les-conditions-d- 2019 removed all social supports (accommodation hebergement-des- the asylum seeker accommodation facilities, they demandeurs-d-asile- 88 included) to people granted asylum in another cela-n-a-aucun-sens can also be put into a detention centre. This goes against the ethics and principles of social work, European Union Member State, after a two-week 91 91 https://www. as the housing facilities are thus responsible transition period. This may include people who asylumineurope. org/news/14-06- for controlling and verifying the obligations of have an ongoing appeal against being returned. 2019/germany- controversial-law- dublinised asylum seekers. On several occasions, This therefore affects a group that is particularly package-passes- parliament-1 the French government has proposed removing exposed to housing deprivation.

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My name is H. I am from Afghanistan and I am our home had been given to another family. And thirty years old. [...] Up to June 2018, I was housed as because we had left ‘informally’ the first time, we part‘ of the ESTIA programme in Thessaloniki. I am had lost our right to other housing within the ESTIA married, but I don’t have any children. I was diag- programme. Being homeless badly affected my nosed with mental health problems sixteen years mental health. The first time I went to the DOTW ago. Since then, I have been taking antipsychotic clinic after our return, I was worn out. My wife was medication. In 2016, I left my country due to the also in a bad state. [...] Today I feel much better. large-scale Taliban attacks in my region, in which My health is stable. [...] After applying once again my two brothers were killed. In July 2018, my wife to the ESTIA programme, we were placed in a safe and I left for the Netherlands paying traffickers apartment in the centre of Thessaloniki. a large sum of money; we applied for asylum in ’ the Netherlands. After waiting two months, my The Story of H., Open Minds II – Promoting asylum application was rejected and my wife and Mental Health and Well-Being in the I returned to Greece. The organisation which had Community (2019), Doctors of the World Greek previously helped us [in Greece] informed us that Delegation.

DETENTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN EUROPE

Administrative detention is regulated by the Reception Conditions Directive. The length of detention must be ‘as short as possible’. International and European legislation clearly stipu- late that detention can only be used as a last resort. In the United Kingdom, any person under the authority of immigration officials can be detained for an unlimited period. There are nine detention centres in Great Britain (some being managed by private security companies, others by the prison services). 24,748 people were in detention in 2018. In June 2018, 60 people had been in detention for more than a year.92 In 2019, the Supreme Court criticised the British Home Office for illegally detaining asylum seekers who had been placed under the Dublin procedure.93 Despite an ‘Adults at Risk’ policy 92 started in 2016, the British government continues to detain vulnerable people. This is the case, To find out for example, of many women who come from China, often victims of exploitation and human more: https:// detentionaction. trafficking. According to Home Office statistics, Chinese women are the largest national group org.uk/ among women in detention: there were 420 of them in 2018. 275 of the 414 Chinese women 93 who left detention that year had applied for asylum. 252 of them, i.e. 92%, were not deported on https://www. theguardian.com/ leaving the detention centre, but continued with their asylum application.94 law/2019/nov/27/ thousands-ofasylum-seekers- may-be-due- Their interest in removing you will always outweigh your vulnerability, there is no damages-after-court- home-office-ruling contest‘ there. I saw loads of vulnerable people inside Morton Hall. Lots of psychotic episodes, 94 people self-harming because they were so depressed. I saw someone cut their throat in front To find out more: of me. John P, Freed Voices/DetentionAction https://www. refugeewomen. co.uk/campaign/ ’ research/

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I gave up thinking about life outside of Colnbrook. I told myself ‘Colnbrook is your home now‘ – that is the only way to survive’. My cell became my bedroom. The canteen became my kitchen. When I look back now, it’s crazy to think how normal it became to be locked up at night, night after night after night. Souleymane, Freed Voices/DetentionAction’

Belgium was criticised three times by the European Court of Human Rights for locking up 2,000 children with their parents in closed centres, between 2004 and 2008. In the Netherlands, there are two detention centres: one for single men (3,500 men on average in 2018, where they can stay for up to 18 months, but the majority are released within three months of entering) and one for unaccompanied minors, families with children (in this case, the stay cannot be longer than two weeks) and women (26 people from May to August 2019). In Spain, detention centres are not used to detain asylum seekers, detained people can however apply for asylum. In this case, the person is released and directed to an association, as they cannot be deported while their application is being processed. The detention of migrants is harmful, ineffective and costly.95 Harmful because it has det- 95 rimental effects on mental health, on people's trust in the asylum system (and thus their Detention can cost capacity and willingness to cooperate with the authorities) and on the ability to meet their up to ten times more than alternative basic needs. In Belgium, in September 2018, the federal government established a closed options: the cost of running alternatives national administrative centre for migrants in transit and increased the number of places to detention is, for the majority, in enclosed centres: 160 migrants in transit were detained there in July 2019, with a cost to significantly less, and they enable a public finances of EUR 215,000 per week, or EUR 192 per person per day. The majority of these lot more voluntary returns (thereby people were released after a few days, either because they could not be deported if they are avoiding the high costs associated at risk of torture or persecution in their home country, or because their country of origin was with deportations). 96 International unknown The ineffectiveness of prolonged detention periods has also been proven in the Detention Coalition (2015), ‘There United Kingdom, where fewer than 40% of migrants detained for more than six months were are alternatives 97 – A handbook deported. Eurostat data shows the lack of correlation between the maximum detention time for preventing 98 unnecessary of Member States and the rate of forced repatriation. immigration detention’, available The alternatives to detention involve a legal obligation: an individual evaluation must be car- at: https://idcoalition. org/wp-content/ ried out on a case-by-case basis, and when detention is resorted to, in the absence of any other uploads/2016/01/ There-Are- possible measure, it must be imposed for the shortest duration possible. Alternatives-2015.pdf 96 https://www.cire.be/ migrants-en-transit- en-belgique/ 97 The Dublin Regulation and the tightening up of tion or ensuring rights for dublinised people. https://www.gov. some national legislation on the right to asylum Here again, governments categorise migrants in uk/government/ publications/ are therefore used by Member States to shrink terms of their administrative status and priori- immigration- statistics-july-to- from their obligations regarding reception, for tise control and management of migration flows september-2016/list- of-tables#detention example by restricting access to accommoda- over solidarity and the obligation to protect.

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Varied measures when it comes to treatment due to this vulnerability. The recep- provision for people in vulnerable tion crisis, the institutionalisation of emergency situations accommodation and the weaknesses in the reception systems as described here have harmful effects on the mental and physical health of asylum seekers, on their private and family Asylum seekers are, by definition, vulnerable lives, and can amount to inhuman and degrading people: a lack of or inadequate provision can, treatment, as recognised by the ECHR in the case 98 in respect of these people, amount to degrading ‘In 2017, Spain (60 of M.S.S. -v- Belgium and Greece. days maximum detention period) had a return rate of 37.2%, and France had a return rate of 15% (45 days, although a change was introduced in 2018). Among Member States with maximum periods of detention matching WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about the right to protection from inhuman and the maximum permitted by the degrading treatment for asylum seekers? Directive (6 months plus 12 months), for 99 example, the Czech M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece |2011|ECHR Republic had a return rate of 11.2%, Belgium of 18.2%, Greece of 39.5%, and Germany The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights does not expressly provide for of 46.3%.’ See the right to housing. The Strasbourg courts have always stated that the Convention cannot, European Parliament (2019), ‘Recasting the as a matter of principle, guarantee the right to housing to every person under its jurisdiction. Return Directive’, available at: https:// However, the European Court of Human Rights protects the right to housing on the basis of www.statewatch. org/news/2019/apr/ Article 8 (respect for one's home and private and family life), in situations where sufficient and ep-briefing-new- returns-proposal. continuous connection can be established to a specific place. More recently, the Court stated pdf ; see also PICUM (2019), that the absence of shelter, for particularly vulnerable people, may violate Articles 3 (inhuman ‘Non-detention of and degrading treatment) and 8 of the Convention. The main cases that are relevant in this migrants: some facts and figures‘ PICUM respect are M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece, and V.M. and others v Belgium. briefing, available at: https://picum. org/wp-content/ M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece is a landmark case. The case involved an Afghan asylum seeker uploads/2020/02/ Talking-points-on- who had fled Kabul in 2008, entered the European Union through Greece to eventually arrive in Non-Detention-of- Migrants-Some- Belgium where he applied for asylum. In accordance with the Dublin Regulation, Greece was Facts-and-Figures- January-2020. the Member State responsible for examining his asylum application. Consequently, the Belgian pdf and PICUM (2019), ‘Advocating authorities transferred him to Greek territory, where he was placed in a detention centre in for Alternatives to Detention in unsanitary conditions before having to sleep rough with no material assistance. the Context of Migration: Toolkit for NGOs’, available The Court attached particular importance to the claimant's status as an asylum seeker and, as at: https://picum. org/wp-content/ such, a member of a particularly disadvantaged and vulnerable population in need of special uploads/2020/02/ Alternatives-To- protection (251). The Court stated that it is a violation of Article 3 because the claimant ‘spent Detention-Toolkit- months in a state of extreme poverty, incapable of meeting his most basic needs: food, hygiene for-NGOs-EN.pdf 99 and housing. This was compounded by the ever-present fear of being attacked and robbed and M.S.S. v Belgium and the total lack of any hope of improving their situation.’ Greece, Application no. 30696/09 §254 http://hudoc. echr.coe.int/ eng?i=001-103050

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This case also examined the compatibility of the Dublin Regulation with the European Convention on Human Rights regarding transfers to Greece under this regulation. The Court found that Greece had infringed Article 3 due to the detention conditions experienced by the claimant and it also found that Article 13 combined with Article 3 had been infringed due to the failures of the asylum procedure in the claimant’s case and the risk of his deportation to Afghanistan, without any serious examination being given to the basis for his claim for asylum or any access to effective recourse. The Court also ruled against Belgium, citing a violation of Article 3 in sending the claimant to Greece and exposing him to detention and living conditions that violated this article.

With M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece, the Court judged for the first time that a Member State's non-respect of the basic socio-economic needs constitutes a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. States are to be held responsible for returning asylum seekers to conditions that lead (or may lead) to a violation of Article 3.

On the basis of the Reception Conditions Directive (Directive 2003/9/EC of the Council of the EU), the Court found that Greece had accepted the obligation to provide housing and decent material conditions to impoverished asylum seekers. In this case, the Greek State failed to meet its obligations and infringed Article 3.100 When a State does not comply with the Reception Conditions Directive, an asylum seeker can invoke a subjective right to receive assistance under Article 3 of the ECHR.

100 The Court clearly states that Article 3 of the ECHR does not contain a general obligation to provide asylum seekers with housing or financial Furthermore, some people are particularly people, pregnant women, single parents with support. However, because asylum vulnerable among asylum seekers: the circums- minors, victims of human trafficking, people seekers constitute a particularly tances of people with specific needs are par- with serious illnesses, people with mental health disadvantaged and vulnerable ticularly alarming, in particular when we see issues, and people who have been tortured, group needing special protection, their increased exposure to extreme poverty and raped or been subjected to other serious forms and because the Reception housing deprivation. According to the Reception of psychological, physical or sexual violence. Conditions Directive obliges Member Conditions Directive, when asylum seekers are States to provide Member States must evaluate ‘within a reaso- housing and decent housed in facilities and accommodation centres nable time frame’ if the asylum seeker has par- material reception conditions to poor (outside of private housing), Member States ticular reception needs and must ensure that asylum seekers, the Court found that must take into account ‘factors linked to their the support provided as a consequence takes Greece had infringed Article 3. By granting gender and age, and the circumstances of vulne- into account ‘their special reception needs decisive power to the obligations rable persons’. Taking into consideration the throughout the duration of the asylum procedure that stem from the Reception Conditions particular circumstances of vulnerable people and shall provide for appropriate monitoring of Directive, the Court strengthened the is asserted by Article 21 with regard to minors, their situation’. Specific provisions exist on the impact of this instrument. unaccompanied minors, disabled people, older measures that need to be taken to ensure the

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particular vulnerability is taken into account related to identifying vulnerable asylum seekers. with regard to minors (Article 23), unaccom- However, this is not a correct transposition of panied minors (Article 24) and victims of tor- the recast Directive on Asylum Procedures, as ture or violence (Article 25). Where minors are it only specifies that an interview should take concerned, for example, the Directive states that place and not that adequate assistance should the best interests of the child must be a priority be provided to asylum seekers needing specific for Member States, who are bound to ensure that procedural guarantees. In practice, the identifica- minors are housed with their parents and bro- tion procedures in Germany have been described thers and sisters, and even that they have access as ‘questions of luck and coincidence’ given that to leisure activities. However, there is no detail the authorities ‘are not empowered to take the on other categories of vulnerable people and how necessary measures to determine psychological to address their particular needs, which leaves problems or trauma’.102 a degree of discretion that varies from Member State to Member State. Evaluating how vulnerable asylum seekers are and, if needs be, providing them with appropriate assistance is therefore a Member State obligation in accordance with the Reception Conditions Directive. For all that, not all member states have established a systematic identification/evaluation mechanism for assessing the vulnerability of asylum seekers.

This can be observed in Ireland and Germany in particular. In Ireland, the number of asylum seekers in emergency accommodation increased from 196 to 936 people between November 2018 and July 2019. Emergency accommodation is 101 the main form of reception currently available to https://www. newcomer asylum seekers in Ireland. According asylumineurope.org/ news/12-08-2019/ to studies by the Irish Refugee Council, people ireland-serious- gaps-reception- living in these centres face difficulties acces- conditions-directive- sing the care and social welfare (‘Daily Expenses implementation- one-year Allowance’) that are normally available to asylum 102 seekers. The lack of any mechanism to identify Nina Hager and Jenny Baron, ‘Eine vulnerability has been criticised by civil society Frage von Glück und Zufall. Zu den organisations as a significant reason for the diffi- Verfahrensgarantien für psychisch Kranke culties in implementing the Directive. In response oder Traumatisierte im Asylverfahren’ in to a parliamentary question, the Irish Minister for Informationsverbund Justice and Equality said that ‘it is not possible Asyl und Migration (ed), Beratung und to provide data on the number of people with Rechtsschutz im Asylverfahren: specific needs’.101 In Germany, a 2016 amendment Beilage zum. sylmagazin7-8/2017, to the German Asylum Act integrated provisions July 2017, 17-26

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103 Migreurop (2018), ‘Femmes aux frontières extérieures de l’Union Européenne’ [Women at the European Figure FUNDAMENTAL 17: Funda meRIGHTSntal CHALLENGESrights challenges DERIVING derivi FROMng from LIMITED limited RECEPTION reception CAPACITY capacity Union’s external borders] – Les Notes de Migreurop n°8, available [in French] at: http:// Overcrowding www.migreurop.org/ article2903.html 104 The Special Social Representative of the Lack of privacy Secretary General of isolation the Council of Europe on Migration and Refugees expressed the need for Spanish authorities to ‘ensure that the CETIs at Ceuta and Melilla have the same Lack of attention Inadequate standards in terms Limited of living conditions, to vulnerabilities hygiene education, reception healthcare, language capacity and training courses that asylum seekers have a right to on mainland Spain.’ Council of Europe (2018), ‘Report of the fact-finding mission by Ambassador Tomáš Boček, Special Representative of the Sexual and gender- Risk of criminal Secretary General based violence victimisation on migration and refugees, to Spain’, 18-24 March 2018, para 5.1. See also the 2016 and 2017 reports from Human Rights Source: FRA, 2019 Watch, Amnesty International, UNICEF and Spain's Defensor del Pueblo. ECRE/AIDA (2018), Country Report There have also been failures in identifying and lence. Furthermore, in the villages of Ceuta and Spain. taking account of vulnerability in the Greek and Melilla in Spain, while a ‘protocol for detecting 105 Spanish ‘hotspots’. Besides the issues related trafficking victims’ exists, there are no specific See for example Gehrt, Daniel, to lack of hygiene, sanitary facilities and over- measures to ensure the protection of women Marco Hafner, Lucy Hocking, Evangelos 103 Gkousis, Pamina crowding, the lack of appropriate mechanisms identified as potential victims of violence. In Smith, and Jack Pollard (2019), ‘Poor for victims of violence must be pointed out. both towns, undocumented people who arrive indoor climate, its impact on child Suitable provision should include evaluation on Spanish territory are accommodated in the health, and the wider societal costs’. with trained staff, respecting confidentiality two Migrant Temporary Stay Centres (Centros de Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, rules and how people concerned can access estancia temporal para inmigrantes, CETI). At the available at: https:// www.rand.org/pubs/ treatment or adequate medical and psycho- end of August 2018, the Ceuta centre housed 1,057 research_reports/ RR3256.html. In logical care. Member States are failing to meet people (for 512 places) and the Melilla centre November 2019, the French organisation their obligations at all levels. For example, on housed 1,192 (for 782 places, including places Défenseur des Droits stated that a the island of Lesbos, there are only five doctors in tents). The voluntary sector has repeatedly mayor’s refusal to provide schooling for for a camp of several thousand people. Women sounded the alarm on the appalling living con- children living in a hotel may constitute discrimination have to live alongside unknown men, without ditions, excessive overcrowding, lack of inter- and, as such, be liable to criminal any private space. The medical and psycholog- preters and psychologists, exposure to violence proceedings: https:// www.lemediasocial. ical supports are insufficient and it has been and to exploitation even within the centres, fr/refus-de- scolarisation-des- reported that there is a lack of confidentiality in particularly for women and children. The lack of enfants-heberges- en-hotel-rappel-a-l- procedures, leading to many women choosing specialised places also causes family separation ordre-des-maires_ 104 tZumeg not to report when they have been victims of vio- – in these cases, minors stay with one parent.

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106 Audio: Report from France Culture – Les Pieds sur Terre Preserving the family unit must, in accordance Being in a hotel is like being locked up because (2019), ‘Des enfants sans toit ni loi pour with European regulations, be a priority in order I often feel we are treated sort of like prisoners. les abriter’ [Children ‘ without a roof or to respect the best interests of the child. In the Because we are not allowed visitors, it's not like if a law to protect them], available [in majority of Member States, accommodating people came to visit us they would do something French] at: https:// www.franceculture. families in emergency accommodation and to the hotel... I don’t understand it really... fr/emissions/les- pieds-sur-terre/des- hotel rooms, where there is overcrowding, lack Kouma, 17 ans – Défenseur des Droits (2019) enfants-sans-toit-ni- ’ loi-pour-les-abriter of private space and squalor, has harmful effects 107 on social and family relationships, health and What's more, my mother isn't able to cook any- Florent Guéguen (2020), ‘Que the education of children.105 In France, in winter thing because the manager never leaves us be. vont devenir les ‘ personnes et 2019-2020, an unprecedented number of fami- [...] Everything has to be made in a microwave in familles évacuées des campements the hotel... parisiens?’ [What lies with children were sleeping rough without will become of a housing solution (many of them migrant fam- Mirhan, 14 ans – Défenseur des Droits (2019) people and families ’ evicted from Parisian camps?], available ilies), a situation that was criticised by the vol- [in French] at https:// Unaccompanied minors, i.e. adolescents under 106 blogs.mediapart.fr/ untary sector. On 16 January 2020, CASP (the florentgueguen 18 years from third countries arriving in Europe orangefr/blog/020220 Protestant Social Action Centre) which manages /que-vont-devenir- without family, are particularly vulnerable when les-personnes-et- a Parisian platform for accommodating families familles-evacuees- it comes to housing deprivation. According to des-campements- of asylum seekers counted 329 people home- parisiens Eurostat, the number of unaccompanied minors 107 108 less, including 149 children. A study by the seeking asylum in Europe has increased sev- See Défenseur French Défenseur des Droits published in 2019 des Droits (2019), en-fold between 2013 when the number was ‘Adolescents highlighted how temporary accommodation in sans-logement. 12,725 and 2015 when the number reached 95,205. Grandir en famille dans une chambre hotels has negative effects on family and friend In 2018, 19,845 unaccompanied minor asylum d’hôtel’ [Homeless adolescents: growing relationships, education and the health of ado- seekers registered in the EU-28. This amounts up in a hotel room], 108 112 available [in French] lescents. In Ireland, according to a 2017 Focus to 10% of all asylum seekers under 18 years. at https://www. defenseurdesdroits. Ireland report, between 35% and 59% of homeless These children arrive completely alone and fr/fr/etudes-et- 113 recherches/2019/02/ families in Dublin come from a migration back- without any frame of reference. They should adolescents-sans- logement-grandir- ground.109 In England, the accommodation con- be taken into the care of child social services in en-famille-dans-une- 114 chambre-dhotel ditions for asylum seekers have been criticised the majority of Member States. The systems for 109 many times for their lack of security, non-respect child protection are certainly effective on paper Focus Ireland (2017), but in practice there are failures in the majority ‘Causes of family for private life, and absence of minimum hygiene homelessness in the of Member States, particularly regarding unac- Dublin region during and safety standards. These conditions are par- 2016 and 2017’, companied minors:115 their care is provided on available at: https:// ticularly unsuitable for mothers and their young www.focusireland. a limited basis for cost-saving purposes. These ie/wp-content/ children, pregnant women, victims of torture and uploads/2018/12/ children are thus, for the most part, accommo- Gambi-Sheridan- 110 and-Hoey-2018- people suffering from post-traumatic stress. In Insights-into-Family- dated in hotels where they live alone with little Homelessness-No- Scotland, a national consultation on the use of 16-Causes-of-family- or no support, which makes them particularly homelessness-in- bed & breakfasts and hotels for homeless people the-Dublin-region- vulnerable to isolation, solitude and exclusion. during-2016-and- showed that this amounted to ‘psychologically 2017-Final-2.pdf Their administrative status, once again, trumps 110 destructive and traumatising’ living conditions, their child status. The absence of protection and House of Commons which led the Scottish government to propose the lack of commitment from public authorities (2018), ‘Asylum accommodation: legislation limiting the length of stays in such exposes them to all kinds of risks including very Replacing COMPASS’, December 2018, temporary accommodation to one week and to serious ones such as human trafficking, pros- available at: https:// 111 bit.ly/2A164kM. prioritise sustainable housing solutions. titution and coercive control. Studies show a

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111 https://www.gov. scot/publications/ analysis-responses- consultation- improving- correlation between low standards of protection ing protection being turned out on the streets fol- temporary- 119 accommodation- and an increase in the number of minors being lowing the entire prefecture procedure. These standards/pages/8/ exploited116, coercive control is tied up with a mix young people, sometimes just 15 or 16 years 112 of factors (need for shelter, physical and psycho- old, can then (in the best-case scenario) have Eurostat, 2019 – Eurostat, 2019 – logical violence, debts due to their passage to recourse to homeless support services, which migr_asyappctza. Europe, etc.). Of 11,700 unaccompanied minors in turn are forced to develop new competencies 113 who applied for asylum in the Netherlands as they go, to try and best support these people See the MSF report 120 on unaccompanied over the last ten years, 2,556 disappeared from with their specific needs – while acknowl- minors in France (2019), ‘Les mineurs reception centres before the end of their asylum edging that in order to be housed through the non accompagnés, symbole d’une procedure (and without local authorities know- 115 hotline, for example, they are obliged to say politique maltraitante’ ing where they went). Some young people go to they are adults. Of 3,774 unaccompanied minors [Unaccompanied minors, symbol of other parts of the Netherlands or Europe to find living in Greece in March 2019, half could be con- an abusive policy], available [in French] family members, but according to associations, sidered homeless: 1,932 were living outside of at: https://www.msf. fr/sites/default/files/ some of them become victims of human traffick- temporary or long-term accommodation and 605 2019-09/201909%20- 117 %20Rapport-Mission- ing. Being forced to commit crimes is one form were rough sleepers, i.e. 16% (these figures do not France%20MSF.pdf of exploitation widely used on children. These take into account the number of unaccompanied 114 crimes are viewed through the prism of delin- 121 While there is no minors who are undocumented). legal definition of quency by the public authorities who continue ‘unaccompanied Effective protection of unaccompanied minors minors’ in Europe, to convict minor victims on a large scale rather there are two is therefore conditional upon implementation models in Member than convicting the masterminds behind this States for assuming of an evaluation and a procedure that takes responsibility: type of criminality. The regular use of incarcer- the first model, account of the rights of the child at every stage, widespread in the ation for these children further increases their majority of Member through a comprehensive care plan adapted to States associates the isolation and the unlikelihood of them accessing care and protection their protection needs for the entire time they of children with protection, and ultimately this works in favour of the prerequisite are recognised as minors, and through identify- condition of being criminal organisations which flourish as a result asylum seekers, and ing sustainable solutions in accordance with the a second model, less of this vicious circle.118 The policy of migratory widespread (in place child’s best interests, enabling a smooth transi- mainly in France, control thus infiltrates all areas, including the Spain and partially 122 in Italy and Belgium), tion to independence. which is based on protection of children: some public authorities the Convention on the Rights of the in France for example, contest the under-age Asylum seekers with specific mental health Child, according to which the State must status of some children on the basis of arbitrary care needs (victims of violence, torture, trauma, assume protection of the child in the criteria, in order to avoid responsibility, and they post-traumatic stress, etc.) are frequently help- absence of protection from the parents. prioritise fighting illegal immigration over the less when there is no individualised support Senovilla Hernández D. (2020), ’Quelle rights of the child. A decree on the minority taking their distress into account. In France, 12% protection pour les mineurs arrivés seuls assessment support (AEM) entered into force on of unaccompanied minors at CASOs (healthcare en Europe?’ [What protection for minors 30 January 2019. In effect, this decree enables and advice centres) run by Médecins du Monde arriving in Europe alone?], in Bouagga Y. the French authorities to deport a child seeking in 2018 were diagnosed with psychological or (dir.) (2020), Dossier ‘Jeunes en migration, protection due to their minor age and isolation as psychiatric disorders. 56% of asylum seekers entre défiance et protection’ [Young soon as the Department (in which they are resid- were diagnosed with chronic illnesses and 54% people in migration, between mistrust and ing) considers them to have reached adulthood. with acute illnesses. Almost one asylum seeker protection], De facto [Online]. Produced The Department’s decision is mostly based on a in two (48%) had delayed seeking medical atten- by: Catherine Guilyardi. Available cursory evaluation procedure containing subjec- tion, and 44% needed urgent or quite urgent care [in French] at: 123 http://icmigrations. tive criteria. According to the associations, the according to the doctor in consultation. In Italy, fr/2020/03/25/ defacto-017-02/ application of this order results in children seek- organisations have criticised the lack of, and poor

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115 « Depuis 2014, bien ‘Since 2014, although there are significant quality of, accommodation for the most vulnera- Healthcare professionals working with this disparities within regions of the same ble people with mental health problems and/or population are often overwhelmed by the patients country, all European ‘ countries have addiction problems. These people are frequently they see who present high levels of distress related shown a tendency towards establishing evicted from accommodation facilities and find to homelessness, extreme poverty, social margin- measures limiting the costs related themselves on the street and/or in low-threshold alisation and the lack of any support network. In to assuming responsibility for services intended for homeless people. these circumstances, the effectiveness of available these minors, and therefore their treatment is weakened, hindering their return to protection.’ Peyroux O. (2020), ‘Mineurs good health. migrants et traite des êtres humains – Les oubliés de ’ la protection de Dr Stefanos Kontokostas, psychiatrist, l’enfance’ [Minor migrants and Open Minds II – Promoting Mental Health human trafficking – abandoned by and Well-Being in the Community (2019), child protection services], Hommes & Doctors of the World Greek Delegatio. migrations [online], 1328 | 2020, available [in French] at: https:// www.cairn.info/ revue-hommes-et- migrations-2020-1- page-35.htm 116 Ibid. WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about the level of seriousness required for the 117 lack of care to constitute inhuman or degrading treatment? https://nltimes. nl/2020/01/13/2500- 124 kids-disappeared- N.T.P and others v France |2018|ECHR asylum-centers-10- years 118 This case was about the means of housing a family – a mother and her three young children Peyroux O. (2020), – while they were waiting to apply for asylum. The Court concluded that the claimants were op. cit. accommodated for the night in a hostel financed by public funds and that two of the children 119 were attending primary school. Furthermore, the claimants were also receiving medical care Cimade & al. (2020), ‘Le Conseil financed by the State and were being helped by NGOs. The Court therefore handed down a d’Etat valide sans sourciller le fichage judgement that the claimants had been able to ‘meet their most basic needs’ (food, hygiene, and des mineur-e-s non accompagné- a roof) and that the French authorities had not acted indifferently to their needs. Consequently, e-s’ [The Council of State approves their situation was not serious enough to fall within the scope of article 3. the surveillance of unaccompanied minors without 125 batting an eyelid], M.K. v France |2018|ECHR Joint associations communication of 7 February This decision by the ECHR ordered the French government to house an asylum seeker (a 2020, available [in French] at: https:// mother and her three children) using the interim measures stated in Article 39. In accordance www.lacimade.org/ presse/le-conseil- with the Court's established case law, these interim measures are applied when there is a risk detat-valide-sans- sourciller-le-fichage- of imminent and irreparable damage. In practice, the Court did not indicate if the damage was des-mineur-e-s-non- accompagne-e-s/?fb coming from the claimant’s lack of housing or from the non-respect by the French government clid=IwAR2xveqhq2v FqSKiajC97xj7HkzIiT of the three decisions from the Toulouse administrative court ordering the State to provide the 1sbiYQTTn5OeIhcjvT ObRLNyWdFjU family with housing. Either way, this demand for the interim measures enabled the claimant 120 to be housed immediately and highlights the risk of violating the rights guaranteed by the Interview with Convention in cases where access to emergency accommodation is refused. the Great Eastern Regional Agency of the Foundation Abbé Pierre, November 2019.

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121 National Centre for The absence of accommodation is to provide first-line assistance and to direct National Centre for Social Solidarity options for migrants in transit people towards the most appropriate support ser- (EKKA), 2019. Available at http:// vices according to their specific situation. People www.ekka.org.gr/ images/EKKA_ can receive advice on their legal and social Dashboard _31-3-2019.pdf situation, see a doctor, speak to a psychologist, People falling under the term ‘migrants in transit’ 122 charge their mobile phone and call their family Senovilla Hernández enter one European country wishing to go to or even receive clothing.128 According to an MSF D. (2020), op. cit. another European country to apply for asylum or report, migrants in transit experience extreme 123 to stay there (e.g. for family reasons or reasons Médecins du Monde psychological stress related to their exile and (2018), ‘Synthèse de related to work or study). This country is not, in l'observatoire de their migration journey but also to their living l'accès aux droits principle, responsible for processing their appli- et aux soins 2018’ conditions and to the repressive police force [Overview of the cation due to the Dublin Regulation. They do not observatory on that they are subjected to. Among the people access to rights apply for asylum in the country (or countries) and care 2018], received at the Brussels humanitarian Hub, one available [in French] through which they are ‘transiting’. They have at: https://www. in four attributes their psychological problems medecinsdumonde. very different profiles (women, men, unaccom- org/fr/actualites/ to their experiences in Europe: mediocre living publications/2019/ panied minors) and are in disparate situations conditions, uncertainty about which procedure 10/15/synthese-de- (old or new arrivals in Europe, international pro- lobservatoire-de- 129 lacces-aux-droits-et- to follow, police behaviour, etc. aux-soins-2018 tection granted in another country, etc.). Official data on housing deprivation very rarely 124 Their situation is considered irregular and they N.T.P. and Others v. covers undocumented people, which contrib- France, Application find themselves in a European administrative no. 68862/13, 24 May utes to making them and their needs invisible. 2018. vacuum. As a result, their fundamental rights According to Médecins du Monde, in France, and primary needs are often denied: they do not 125 among the undocumented migrants coming to M.K. v. FRANCE have access to the asylum reception system and and two other the CASO, one in five is homeless and 85% of cases, App. No(s). they are often refused access to general emer- 34349/18, 34638/18 people who in theory are under the AME (Aide and 35047/18. http:// gency accommodation. When this is not the hudoc.echr.coe.int/ Médicale d’Etat/State Medical Aid, provision eng?i=001-187849 case – in France where access is supposed to be enabling foreigners in an irregular situation to unconditional, in Spain and the United Kingdom 126 access healthcare) do not have acquired rights, In the United where the services are non-statutory126 – the Kingdom, a person which leads to serious difficulties in accessing must be granted lack of places and prioritisation of more vulner- homeless status healthcare services.130 in order to be able people forces them into extreme depriva- entitled to specific social welfare. tion. The widely publicised cases of camps in Whatever the extent of ECHR protection of The non-statutory services are those Calais, in Milan (in 2016), in Ventimiglia and in asylum seekers, a large number of migrants managed by civil society organisations Park Maximilian in Brussels were gross mani- do not intend to get the protection provided for where access is not conditional upon festations of this. Following the increase in the through the Geneva Convention in the coun- having the status. number of asylum seekers in Europe in 2015 and try they are transiting through and thus risk 127 becoming homeless. Nonetheless, the right to Médecins du the evictions from the Calais ‘jungle’ at the end Monde, MSF, the of 2016, many migrants in transit made their emergency accommodation is a minimum living Belgian Red Cross of the francophone way to Belgium, the majority of whom wanted condition and should oblige States to provide community, la Plateforme citoyenne to go to the United Kingdom. In September 2017, everyone with it, regardless of their legal status. de soutien aux réfugiées [the to offer them a minimum of dignity, seven asso- This impression is reinforced by the position Citizens’ Platform Supporting ciations created a humanitarian Hub.127 In 2018, of the European Court of Human Rights, which Refugees], CIRE, Vluchtelingenwerk almost 200 people used the Hub every day, i.e. requires that minimum reception condition are Vlaanderen and Oxfam-Solidarité. more than 47,000 people over the year. Its aim ensured before any family seeking asylum is

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returned. In this regard, the European Committee who belong to certain vulnerable groups, but of Social Rights adopted an interpretive decla- extends to all people in unsafe circumstances, ration on the rights of refugees in accordance in accordance with the principle of respect of with the European Social Charter in which the their human dignity and protection of their fun- Committee restates the content of the collective damental rights. The Committee considers that complaint, FEANTSA v the Netherlands:131 The certain social rights directly linked to the right right to emergency shelter and to all other emer- to life and to human dignity form an intangible gency social assistance is not limited to those core of rights that protect the dignity of all.

128 See http://www. bxlrefugees. be/#services 129 MSF (2019), ‘Une fuite sans fin: Soins en santé mentale au hub humanitaire de Bruxelles’ [An eternal exodus : mental healthcare at the Brussels humanitarian hub], available [in French] at: https://www. msf-azg.be/sites/ default/files/imce/ Rapport%20MSF%20 migration%20 Hub.pdf 130 Médecins du Monde (2018), ‘Synthèse de l’observatoire de l’accès aux droits et aux soins 2018’ [Overview of the observatory on access to rights and care 2018], available [in French] at: https://www. medecinsdumonde. org/fr/actualites/ publications/2019/10 /15/synthese-de- lobservatoire-de- lacces-aux-droits-et -aux-soins-2018 131 FEANTSA v. the Netherlands Complaint No. 86/2012, Decision on the Merits of 2 July 2014.

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‘UNDER PROTECTION’ BUT HOMELESS: 2. THE DIFFICULTIES BENEFICIARIES OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FACE IN ACCESSING HOUSING

When an asylum seeker has their application lar place. Furthermore, the legislation does not accepted, they become beneficiaries of interna- impose any legal obligation on the authorities of tional protection. They thus have permission Member States regarding the provision of hou- to stay on the territory of the reception country sing for beneficiaries of international protection. for a fixed period based on the status granted to However, gaining international protection status them, in the medium or long term. For the person or refugee status does not guarantee the best concerned, this step is the beginning of their accommodation conditions, far from it. There integration process in the reception country. are countless legal, practical and administrative According to Article 32 of the recast Qualification obstacles to transitioning ‘upwards’, i.e. towards Directive,132 beneficiaries of international protection have a right to housing under the same affordable, dignified and sustainable housing conditions as other people from third countries within a reasonable time frame. This leads to serious consequences for the people concerned 132 in regular situations. They cannot be subject Directive 2011/95/ to discrimination regarding access to housing. and for the reception capacity for new arrivals, EU of the European Parliament and of However, the principle of non-discrimination is as it limits the number of places freed up for the Council of 13 December 2011 on adapted to allow ‘for national practice of disper- their arrival. The number of homeless refugees standards for the qualification of third- sal of beneficiaries of international protection’ has especially increased in areas where home- country nationals or stateless persons (Article 32 of the recast Qualification Directive), lessness is closely linked to a critical lack of as beneficiaries 133 of international refugees can thus be forced to live in a particu- affordable housing. protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted. Available at https:// eur-lex.europa.eu/ legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri =CELEX%3A32011 L0095 133 European Council on Refugees and Exiles (2019), ‘Housing out of reach? The reception of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe’, Asylum Information Database, available at http://www. asylumineurope.org/ sites/default/files/ shadow-reports/ aida_housing_out_ of_reach.pdf Photo : David Boureau | Emergency accommodation centre for Migrants, Paris-Ivry d'Emmaüs Solidarité – Paris, France

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The problem of housing of the criteria applies, the COA tries to place the transitioning despite the change in beneficiary within 50 km of the municipality administrative status concerned. Refusal of placement – justified – is allowed; but if the refusal is considered unjustified by the COA, no further offer is made and the reception services end their accommodation When an asylum seeker receives international provision. It is only in these (rare) situations that protection while they are housed in the asylum refugees risk becoming homeless.136 seeker reception system, the issue of transitioning to sustainable housing solutions and In Germany, the assistance an asylum seeker supports arises. However, many beneficiaries receives is regulated by asylum legislation. When of international protection are forced to remain international protection is granted, the person in facilities intended for asylum reception or to moves under the general social welfare regime use general services due to a lack of other solu- and must transfer to independent accommoda- tions. In France in 2018, the proportion of places tion. The situation varies depending on the local occupied by refugees in the national reception housing market and the local policies in place. provisions was on average 16%: they occupied According to a study financed by the German 134 16% of CADA places, 22% of ATSA places, 9% of Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs published 137 People rejected from PRAHDA places and 8% of HUDA places.134 At the in 2019, 86% of German urban communities the right to asylum occupy 12% of places end of 2018 in the Netherlands, 20% of places in questioned said that they had received asylum in the national reception provision. asylum seekers accommodation were occupied seekers into collective accommodation and 49% OFII (2019), Annual Report 2018, available by beneficiaries of international protection (4,600 also used dispersed independent housing. In [in French] at: http:// www.ofii.fr/IMG/ of 22,500 places).135 In terms of reception condi- both cases, having obtained protection status, pdf/RAA%20OFII%20 2018-BD.pdf tions, the transition from one status to another people can stay in shared accommodation or 135 involves changes to the process and orienta- independent housing until they find their own The figure was 30% tion, ideally enabling people to leave facilities solution. But in a lot of cases, in places where the for Austria. European Council on Refugees intended specifically for asylum seekers in a housing market is not subject to specific plan- and Exiles (2019), op. cit. dignified manner. Asylum seekers do not know ning, beneficiaries of international protection 136 in advance if they will be granted the status or have to resort to accommodation for homeless ECRE/AIDA (2018), Country Report not so it is difficult to plan solutions ahead of people. According to estimations from BAGW, Netherlands. time. A minimum amount of time is necessary on one night in June 2018, 542,000 people were 137 to prepare for this ‘upwards’ move. 129 homeless in Germany, 140,000 of whom were Busch-Geertsema V., Henke J., living in emergency accommodation or general Steffen A. (2019), In the Netherlands, transition from asylum temporary accommodation, and 402,000 (74%) ‘Entstehung, Verlauf seeker reception centres to accommodation for und Struktur von were living in accommodation for asylum seek- Wohnungslosigkeit beneficiaries of international protection is only und Strategien zu 138 ihrer Vermeidung. ers and refugees. Hg. von made when adequate housing, outside of the Bundesministerium reception centres, is found by the COA in coopera- In some countries however, there is no public für Arbeit und Soziales’, Berlin, tion with the municipalities. Four placement cri- system for accommodating beneficiaries of available [in German] at: https://www. teria are taken into account: place of education/ international protection and the very short dead- giss-ev.de/fileadmin/ publikationen/ training, place of work (minimum of six-month lines for leaving the asylum seeker facilities fb534-entstehung- verlauf-struktur-von- contract and 20 hours per week), medical or psy- expose these new beneficiaries to homelessness. wohnungslosigkeit- und-strategien-zu- chosocial issues or the presence of (first-degree) This is the case in England, where 32% of people vermeidung-und- behebung.pdf family connections in the Netherlands. If one housed by the No Accommodation Network

FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE - FEANTSA | FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 67 # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE 138 FEANTSA (2019), Country profile for Germany, available at: https://www. feantsa.org/en/ resources/resources- database?search=&th eme=&type=Country+ (support services for homeless people in homeless accommodation report feeling unsafe profile&year= Manchester, London and Leicester) were ref- in these places where violence, and alcohol and 139 ugees.139 The majority became homeless after drug abuse are common142. NACCOM (2018), ‘Mind the Gap’, having trouble finding work and before their available at: https:// naccom.org.uk/mind- paltry financial assistance was stopped: the the-gap-new-report- Many of our clients are street homeless and/ on-refugees-facing- ‘transition’ period, i.e. the statutory deadline for homelessness-after- or without any income at all at some point after move-on-period/ leaving asylum seeker accommodation when ‘ and NACCOM receiving notification of their status as a refugee. (2019), Mind the a person obtains international protection, is Gap – One year on: Even those who manage to stay with friends have continuation report 28 days. Direct links have been shown by the on homelessness to move around as they are unable to tell a friend amongst newly associations between these very short deadlines recognised refugees’, how long they will be there. The ‘lucky’ ones access available at : https:// for leaving accommodation and the high prev- naccom.org.uk/ night shelters in the winter months and it is not wp-content/ alence of homelessness among beneficiaries uploads/2019/06/ unusual for them to rely solely on day centres for NACCOM- of international protection. Any person who Homelessnesss- a hot meal every day. Many get into debt or rely Report_2019-06-18_ has experience of trying to find a job, housing DIGITAL.pdf on ‘hardship’ payments from charities such as the 140 (social or in the private sector) and apply for Refugee Council. This is not a sustainable situation NACCOM (2018), ibid. social welfare will understand that getting these and of course is extremely damaging to the mental See also British Red Cross (2018), ‘Still three issues resolved in 28 days is an impossible health and resilience of a person who has already an ordeal’, available 140 at https://www. task, made all the more difficult by the delay for suffered so much. redcross.org.uk/ about-us/what-we- receiving welfare payments is five weeks min- Written account, Refugee Council, do/we-speak-up-for- ’ 143 change/improving- imum. People do not know if they will receive United Kingdom the-lives-of-refugees/ refugee-move-on- international protection nor when; it is therefore period and Refugee Council: https:// impossible for them to make plans in advance. www.refugeecouncil. org.uk/wp-content/ Access to emergency accommodation is the uploads/2019/03/ APPG_on_ only solution that beneficiaries are entitled to Refugees_-_ Refugees_Welcome_ while waiting for access to social welfare, which report.pdf beneficiaries of international protection are enti- 141 tled to. Except that access to accommodation for McClenaghan M. (2019), ‘How a doctor homeless people in England is subject to being who has never seen you can say granted homeless status, and to an evaluation you’re fit enough to sleep on the of vulnerability and priority needs. More than a streets’, The Bureau of Investigative hundred English councils have resorted to using Journalism, available at: https://www.the private companies to evaluate the vulnerability bureauinvestigates. com/stories/2019- of people applying for homeless services, often 12-18/how-a-doctor- who-has-never-seen- carried out without any meeting taking place. If you-can-say-youre- fit-enough-to-sleep- vulnerability is not established, all aid including on-the-streets emergency accommodation, is refused. A doctor 142 NACCOM (2018), ibid. can decide that a person is capable of sleeping 143 rough without having met them beforehand. APPG (2017), Among those considered ‘not vulnerable enough’ ‘Refugees welcome? The experience of and thus ineligible for emergency accommo- new refugees in the UK’, available at dation, are migrants with mental health prob- https://www. 141 refugeecouncil.org. lems and refugees who are victims of torture. uk/wp-content /uploads/2019/03/ Refugees who manage to access emergency APPG_on_Refugees_ -_Refugees_Welcome _report.pdf 68 FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 | FEANTSA - FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE 144 http://www.infomie. net/IMG/pdf/ cfda_exile.e.s-quels- accueils-face-a-la- crise-des-politiques- publiques.pdf

145 Similarly, in Belgium, there is no specialised tection, who can find themselves in conditions See below, section B. 146 housing stock for this purpose. Once the status of deprivation that are even worse than those There has also been of beneficiary of international protection has of asylum seekers, due to the many obstacles a national strategy for reception and been granted, the person has two months to they face accessing dignified and affordable integration of refugees since 2018, managed by leave the asylum reception centre – a period that housing145 and the inadequate number of spe- the Inter-ministerial Delegation for can be extended by one month, twice. A survey cialised long-term housing units. 15% to 20% of Refugee Reception and Integration by the VVSG (Association of Flemish Cities homeless people living on the streets of Paris (Di-AIR). This strategy aims in particular to and Municipalities) shows that this two-month are reported to have refugee status, according to improve integration into the workplace period is too short: in 2019, 51% of OCMWs/PCSWs estimations by France Terre d’Asile. It was only for beneficiaries of international (Public Welfare Centres) state that it would take in 2015 that DIHAL's (Interministerial delegation protection. 147 three to four months to leave with a solution in for temporary accommodation and access to Cimade (2020), place, 45% state that it takes five months on aver- housing) Migrant Section piloted a public action ‘Etat des lieux des dispositifs d’accueil age (while only 20% held this opinion according to promote housing for beneficiaries of interna- et d’hébergement 146 dédiés aux personnes to the same survey in 2017). Pressure on the tional protection. The temporary accommo- demanderesses d’asile et réfugiées’ [Review housing market has increased over the last two dation centres (CPHs) have been housing and of reception measures and accommodation years. In order to avoid having to turn refugees supporting the integration of statutory refugees for asylum seekers and refugees], available onto the street, the Public Welfare Centres some- since 1973. For more than 20 years, the provision [in French] at: https:// www.lacimade.org/ times have to suspend their local reception ini- was limited to 1,083 places for the entire territory; schemas-regionaux- daccueil-des- tiative with Fedasil: beneficiaries can therefore 1,000 extra places were created in 2017, 3,000 in demandeurs-dasile- quel-etat-des-lieux/ stay a little longer in the reception centre but, 2018 and 2,000 in 2019, bringing the current total 148 as a result, there are no new reception places to 8,710 places.147 Programme financed by the European Union, for incoming asylum seekers. While refugees While establishing short statutory periods and coordinated by UNHCR in cooperation with can sometimes be sent into the Public Welfare transition periods is very problematic in coun- the Greek government and municipalities, it Centre's emergency housing, this is also just a tries where there are very few housing solutions covers accommodation (collective or in temporary solution. apartments) of asylum for refugees, the lack of a time limit can also have seekers and refugees. harmful effects: beneficiaries of international To find out more:http:// In France, the deadline for leaving asylum estia.unhcr.gr/en/ protection can end up stuck in low-quality tem- home/ accommodation after a favourable decision is 149 three months, renewable once in exceptional porary accommodation that is unsuitable in the Ministry of Migration long term and a factor in exclusion. Furthermore, Policy Ministerial circumstances. In 2017, 12,098 beneficiaries of Decision No. 6382/2019 fewer places become free which exacerbates of 12 March 2019, international protection left the asylum recep- ‘Determination 144 the shortage of places for new arrival asylum of framework tion system without a secure housing solution. materializing the seekers. programme providing When protection is granted, beneficiaries usually financial assistance and shelter - ESTIA, fall under the common law provisions for access In Greece, the ESTIA programme for asylum Official Gazette 853/ 148 B/12.03.2019. See to housing: access to private housing through seekers and refugees was time limited as a Refugee Support 149 Aegean (2019), a direct lease (traditional private market or result of a ministerial decision in March 2019 : ‘Evictions of recognized refugees from subsidised, often inaccessible to people on low accommodation and financial assistance accommodation will lead to homelessness incomes), entitlement to common law financial through the ESTIA programme are now offered and destitution’, News Press Release, available aid to access housing or support for accessing for a maximum six-month period after interna- at: https://rsaegean. org/en/evictions-of- housing, access to adapted housing. Despite the tional protection has been granted. This led to recognized-refugees- from-accommodation- existence of an enforceable right to housing, the the first ‘evictions’ from the ESTIA programme will-lead-to- homelessness-and- French State has no legal obligation to specif- which affected 204 people who had been granted destitution/#post-5117- footnote-2 ically house beneficiaries of international pro- international protection before the end of July

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2017.150 Associations criticise the lack of inte- People with humanitarian protection had to gration programmes enabling people to learn leave SIPROIMI/SPRAR before 31 December 2019 the language and search for a job as well as the and, while some services and municipalities many barriers to accessing social welfare and planned to take responsibility for these people affordable housing. (for example, Milan, where the majority are very vulnerable or families or people with mental In Italy, the asylum system itself is in transition. health problems152), many are now particularly SIPROIMI (formerly SPRAR) is the system for pro- exposed to housing deprivation. tecting beneficiaries of international protection, in collective accommodation or apartments. It At each stage, people are required to be integrated, is a system only for people whose asylum appli- to have solid long-term plans for all aspects of cation has been accepted. Since the ‘Salvini their lives (social, work, education, culture and Decree’, only people with a five-year residence housing), to adapt to structures which are, in con- permit, i.e. those with subsidiary protection or trast, very fragmented and interventions that are political asylum and unaccompanied minors, based on emergency and short termism. There can access this system. The conditions for res- are so many obstacles to overcome, complicat- idency under SIPROIMI/SPRAR include learning ing further their access to common law housing. Italian and having a long-term plan, to be set with the programme operators. The majority of people in this system are vulnerable (single-parent families, with physical/mental health problems, etc.). The length of stay there is six months, renewable after evaluation if the process and level of vulnerability requires it. The functioning of the system depends largely on the municipality: SIPROIMI/SPRAR needs compliance from cities and a willingness to manage reception on their territory. As a result, many municipalities do not want to provide this reception service. Support in these structures is intended to be comprehensive: Italian classes are obligatory, basic needs are taken care of (meals and health) and integration activities are offered. However the ‘Salvini Decree’ also led to budget cuts to the 150 SIPROIMI/SPRAR funding: financing allocated Ibid. to accommodation in private apartments fell 151 by 39% between 2018 and 2019 (from EUR 35 to See part I.b) of this chapter. EUR 21.35 per person per day) and funding allo- 152 cated to collective accommodation centres fell On-site visit by 28% (from EUR 35 to EUR 26.35 per person by FEANTSA/ FAP to Milan, per day). Before the ‘Salvini Decree’, holders of a November 2019 and meeting with humanitarian residence permit151 could access the Farsi Prossimo cooperative. SIPROIMI/SPRAR, but this is no longer the case.

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THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF PEOPLE REJECTED FROM ASYLUM

The tightening up of the conditions for gaining international protection and of asylum policies has serious consequences on the number of people rejected from asylum. In the European Union in 2018, of 581,895 first instance decisions on asylum applications, 63% were rejections. Decisions acknowledging rejection of the asylum application represented 76% of first instance decisions in Spain, 72% in France, 68% in Sweden, 65% in United Kingdom and the Netherlands, 58% in Germany, 53% in Greece and 49% in Belgium.153 Access to shelter for people rejected from the right to asylum differs from country to country. In the United Kingdom, rejected asylum seekers do not have access to support services for homeless people because they do not have the right to public funding. Specific services exist, offered by charitable associations. In 2018, NACCOM provided 1,111 rejected asylum seekers and 180 migrants who did not have rights to public financing, to accommodation with third parties and housing in buildings donated to the associations. The situation of rejected asylum seekers unable to return to their country of origin is described in a Red Cross report.154 In Sweden, financial assistance and housing supports for asylum seekers who are governed by a specific legal framework (LMA-lagen) are under the competency of the Swedish Migration Agency; these supports cease as soon as a deportation decision is made – except for families, who must not however try to escape the deportation or they risk losing their right to support. In Spain, rejected asylum seekers must leave the reception programme 15 days maximum after notification, regardless of what ‘phase’ of the programme they are in. These people then turn to municipal social services and services for homeless people. In France, recent case law from the Council of State has led to restrictions accessing emergency accommodation for rejected asylum seekers with OQTF (Obligation to leave French territory): for these people, unconditionality of emergency accommodation must be applied only to rejected asylum seekers who can justify their particular circumstances and only as long as it takes for them to organise voluntary return. In practice, these case law interpretations really pose a challenge to housing this population – in a general and systematic way – with consideration on a case-by-case basis not always being given. This has led to general instructions for refusing reception to irregular migrants on French territory with no consideration given to their individual situation; sometimes the age of children (less than one year or more than one 153 year) is used to make the distinction between families who can benefit from reception in Eurostat 2020, [migr_ asydcfsta], see ‘Going an emergency facility and those who cannot, as they are considered non-priority. In this Further – Annexes and Tables’ Table context, single undocumented men, and increasingly, women and families, are forced to 3.1 – First instance live on the streets without a housing solution, yet they have a right which protects them decisions on asylum applications, 2018 and which should guarantee that their administrative situation cannot be used to justify (number of people, only those from refusal of a fundamental right. A new type of accommodation centre has recently been outside EU-28). created without any legal basis: DPAR (Measures to prepare for assisted return), which was 154 set up regionally via the 2018 finance law. They are inspired by the Belgian model of centres Red Cross (2016), ‘Can’t Stay, Can’t solely for the return of rejected asylum seekers. Accommodation is conditional upon Go’, available at: https://naccom.org. people accepting help to return. However, people are under house arrest and are subject to uk/wp-content/ measures restricting their freedom. uploads/2017/02/ Cant-Stay-Cant-Go- British-Red-Cross- March-2016.pdf

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WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about lack of basic assistance for asylum seekers subject to an order to leave the territory?

V.M. v Belgium155 | 2015 | ECHR

Members of a Serbian family seeking asylum, who were subject to an order to leave Belgium, were deprived of their basic subsistence needs and forced to return to their country of origin where one of the children (seriously disabled) died a short time after their return. The family claimed that the exclusion from Belgian accommodation services exposed them to inhuman and degrading treatment and that the reception conditions in Belgium had led to the death of their eldest daughter.

The Court examined whether there had been a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR with regard to inhuman or degrading treatment. To determine if the threshold of gravity that characterises infringement of Article 3 was reached, the Court based its decision on the status of an asylum seeker as a person belonging to a particularly disadvantaged and vulnerable group requiring special protection. The Court agreed that this vulnerability was worsened by the presence of young children, including one baby and one disabled child. In this case, it was considered that the claimants were evicted from the reception centre ‘without means of subsistence, without housing, and without access to sanitary facilities [...] they found themselves on the streets and stayed there – without any assistance to provide their most basic needs (food, hygiene and shelter)’. These living conditions, combined with the lack of any hope of improving their situation, were so serious that they fall under Article 3 of the Convention and constitute degrading treatment.156

It is worth mentioning the Return Directive, which entered into force in 2010 and provides common rules for the return and removal of persons residing without authorisation, regulating recourse to forced measures and detention. These measures must fully respect human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the people concerned. The Directive was transposed into national law by all States party to it (all EU Member States except the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as the four Schengen states: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). It entitles exiles to rights that can be invoked in cases taken in national jurisdictions.

155 ECHR, V.M. and Others v. Belgium, (Application no. 60125/11, 7 July 2015). 156 N. Bernard (2017), ‘Migrants’ right to housing, Belgian and international law’, Université Saint- Louis, Brussels.

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The escalation of barriers to tries and household income, particularly for poor accessing common law housing households, is a key factor in the exclusion of for people under international beneficiaries of international protection from the protection housing market. In Greece, financial assistance for housing is only accessible to people legally residing on the territory for at least five years and in possession of a rental contract. The solidarity Access to adequate housing is a right that is allowance is only allocated on condition that the being severely tested for a growing number of person is able to provide a valid rental contract of people residing in the European Union.157 The minimum six months or a homeless certificate right of an individual to respect of his or her home (provided by the municipal social services). An is enshrined in Article 7 of the European Union illustration of the difficulties encountered as a Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as by result of these conditions is given by Refugee Article 8 of the ECHR. Article 11 of the International Support Aegean; they gave an account of a family Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognised as beneficiaries of international pro- (which all EU Member States are a party to) forms tection who become homeless. In Athens, the the basis of the right to ‘adequate housing’. homeless certificate is issued to people on the According to the United Nations Committee on streets or in inadequate accommodation, but Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ‘adequate this does not cover people living temporarily housing’ must meet the following requirements: with other people or in squats. This was the case be of sufficient quality to guarantee protection of this family, who were refused the certificate from the weather; reflect the cultural needs of its and, as a result, the solidarity allowance, lead- occupants (including, consequently, vehicles, caring to extreme deprivation for a family with two avans, camps and other provisional structures); dependent children and whose parents have be connected to water and electricity mains as health problems.159 ‘HELIOS’, a pilot programme 157 well as the sanitation network; and have ade- financed by the European Union building on See Statistics on Housing Exclusion quate infrastructure enabling them to benefit ESTIA, was introduced to provide support during in Europe 2020 of this report and other from public services and work opportunities. The this transition period: it plans for financial support work by FEANTSA: https://www.feantsa. housing must, in addition, be affordable and its for the first six months following departure from org/en occupants must be able to enjoy adequate protec- the ESTIA programme and providing information 158 158 on potentially available apartments in the private UN Committee on tion against all forced or rapid evictions. Economic, Social and sector. However, in the absence of integration Cultural Rights (1991), In practice, gaining international protection does General observation programmes including language courses and No. 4: The right to not mean the fight is over, far from it.An accumu- adequate housing taking into account the difficulties of signing a (Art. 11 par. 1 of the lation of obstacles – financial, legal and adminis- Covenant), E/1992/23, contract with landlords, the associations remain 13 December 1991. trative – to the increasingly inaccessible housing highly sceptical of the concrete effects of this market complicate access to adequate housing 159 programme which is still in pilot stage. The inac- Refugee Support for refugees. This in turn increases exclusion – Aegean & Pro Asyl cessibility of the Greek rental market must also (2019), ‘Returned spatial, social and legal – as well as the isolation, recognized refugees be taken into consideration. According to a study face a dead-end in segregation and discrimination that they are par- Greece’, available of 17,000 properties for rent in the Attica region on at: https://rsaegean. ticularly exposed to. org/en/returned- one of the biggest Greek real estate platforms, 0% recognized-refugees- face-a-dead-end-in- The growing gap, over the last decade, between are affordable for a household earning minimum greece/#denialof 160 benefits housing costs across all European Union coun- wage (for a 40 hour working week). In these

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conditions, international protection cannot guar- (based on the size of the municipality, the number antee a dignified and adequate standard of living of refugees already received and the suitability for beneficiaries in Greece. of the local employment market to people's pro- fessional situations). The municipality is thus responsible for providing housing and cannot We have just received our official documents use lack of accommodation as a reason for refus- here. But we cannot transform them into a roof ing people housing.162 According to the Swedish over‘ our heads, we cannot feed our children with National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, them 221 of the 290 municipalities stated that they do Aza*, the mother of a family which has ’ not have enough housing at their disposal for received international protection in Greece, and beneficiaries of international protection, due to 161 is homeless. Source RSA/ProAsyl . a lack of rental properties, family housing and affordable housing. This is against a backdrop Beneficiaries of international protection are 160 where landlords require high incomes and stable largely excluded from social housing in the initial Sideris S. (2020), employment from their tenants and do not accept ‘The rent is too damn years after their arrival because, having obtained high’, Medium/ the welfare payment given to beneficiaries of AthensLive, available their residence permit, they are subjected to very at: https://medium. international protection to meet the income com/athenslivegr/ long waiting lists for social housing. This is not, the-rent-is-too- conditions of a rental contract.163 In September damn-high- however, the case in Denmark, where refugees 69e22e0daaa8 2019, the housing authority of Gothenburg – the are prioritised on the social housing lists. The country’s second-biggest city – sounded the 161 asylum housing system functions in Denmark as https://rsaegean. alarm stating that, ‘over the next three years, 2,700 org/en/returned- a combination of distribution & supply/demand recognized-refugees- people (including 850 children) are going to lose face-a-dead-end-in- matching systems: asylum seekers are initially greece/#denialof their housing if the elected representatives don’t benefits distributed across the territory and are allocated find a solution’.164 162 housing in one of the municipalities, but in this A specific law covers phase, they do not have freedom to choose their In Germany, according to the above-mentioned this: Lag (2016:38) 165 om mottagande av place of residence. However, if the three-year inte- study, slightly more than a quarter of urban vissa nyanlända invandrare gration programme is successfully completed in communities who responded stated that for för bosättning “Bosättningslagen”. the designated municipality, they are free to move people accommodated in independent housing, 163 where they want. While refugees express their the community was planning for the possibility https://www. preferences and needs in terms of housing, the of transferring the rental contract into the per- boverket.se/sv/ samhallsplanering/ municipalities state what housing is available son's name when status is granted. If refugees or bostadsmarknad/ olika-grupper/ until a match is found. This considered allocation beneficiaries of subsidiary protection cannot pay nyanlanda/ results in better integration, as it facilitates access the costs, it is covered by the local social welfare 164 to the labour market, housing and, to a certain office or the local job centre, but only up to an Anne-Françoise Hivert (2019), ‘En extent, integration into schools. Similar strat- ‘adequate’ level; what is considered ‘adequate’ Suède, les réfugiés se retrouvent egies have been developed in the Netherlands depends on the local housing market, so refugees sans logement’ [In (where continuity of protection is ensured by a have to ask the local authorities to what extent Sweden, refugees find themselves person’s exit from asylum accommodation only rent will be reimbursed.166 homeless], Le Monde, 12 October being permitted if a sustainable housing solution 2019, available [in In Italy, after a stay under the SIPROIMI/SPRAR French] at : https:// is available), in Sweden and in Germany. www.lemonde. programmes, there is no public programme fr/international/ responsible for providing a structured exit solu- article/2019/10/12/ In Sweden, beneficiaries of international protec- en-suede-les- tion who do not manage to find housing have, tion in the transition to integration. Although sup- refugies-se- retrouvent-sans- since 2016, been referred to Swedish municipali- port includes help in finding work or training, in logement_ 6015275_3210.html ties by the Migration Agency via a quota system putting money aside for future rent, or even direct

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financial aid for rent (in general for a period of one there is no turnover because the waiting lists are month) or a rental guarantee, people are facing very long and people have to prove residency in housing costs that are completely disconnected the municipality for the last five years.167 from their income as well as discrimination on Administrative deadlocks, particularly regarding the private rental market. Quick-fix solutions are addresses, have been reported in some countries. thus considered: beneficiaries of international In Bulgaria, for example, a valid identification protection might use sub-lets on the black market, document is necessary to access all social which particularly exposes them to undignified welfare, including in relation to housing. Upon and overcrowded housing. Many house-share, signature of the rental contract, beneficiaries of paying high rent for very small living spaces. international protection must present a valid Some find themselves using services for home- identification document but to obtain this docu- less people or on the streets, in slums or in squats. ment, the person must already have an address. Social housing is not an option in Italy for these Yet, since 2016, it is no longer permitted to use people – except when rare places become free in the address of the asylum reception centre in the affordable private social housing foundations, which the person was previously staying in order where many conditions must be met and where to obtain this identification document.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY about the principle of non-discrimination?

Article 2 of the TEU (Treaty on European Union) and Article 10 of the TFEU (Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) enables European institutions 165 to take the necessary measures to fight all discrimination based on sex, race or ethnic origin, Busch-Geertsema V., Henke J., Steffen A. religion or beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation. The principle of banning discrimination (2019), op. cit. 166 was confirmed with the proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000: Article AIDA, Country Report 21 of this charter cites, in addition to the reasons mentioned in Article 10 of the TFEU, social Germany, 2018 Update, April 2019, origin, genetic characteristics, language, political opinions or any other opinion, belonging to a 120-121. national minority, property and birth. Article 21, paragraph 2, explicitly bans any discrimination 167 based on nationality.168 There are currently four directives that bind European Union Member Bear in mind that 169 residency does not States to fight discrimination and to ensure application of the principle of equal treatment. The start when residency is applied for but European Convention on Human Rights guarantees protection against discrimination to any when one receives a valid residence person under the jurisdiction of a Member State, whether or not they are a national of this State. permit. Interviews with Casa della ‘Access to housing would not only include ensuring that there is equality of treatment on the part Carita & Caritas Ambrosiana, Milan, of public or private landlords and estate agents in deciding whether to let or sell properties to par- Italy, November 2019. 168 ticular individuals. It would also include the right to equal treatment in the way that housing is allo- Charter of cated (such as allocation of low quality or remote housing to particular ethnic groups), maintained Fundamental Rights of the European (such as failing to upkeep properties inhabited by particular groups) and rented (such as a lack of Union , 364, available 170 at: http://eur-lex. security of tenure, or higher rental prices or deposits for those belonging to particular groups).’ europa.eu/legal- content/EN /TXT/?uri=CELEX%3 A12012P%2FTXT

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Beneficiaries of international protection are thus of public landlords racially discriminate when particularly exposed to discrimination when renting out a property: an Asian profile has 15% 169 accessing housing, whether this discrimination less chance of renting a property than a person Directive 2000/43/ CE of 29 June is based on their status, on their income, or on with a French-sounding name, a North African 2000 (Anti- their understanding of the language or how the person has 28% less chance and someone from racism Directive), Directive 2000/78/ reception country functions. In England, the the French Overseas Departments or from Sub- CE of 27 Nov. 2000 (Employment ‘right to rent’ legislation, established with the Saharan Africa has 38% less chance.173 Likewise Equality Framework Directive), Directive 2016 Immigration Act, compels landlords to verify in Germany, several studies have shown dis- 2006/54/CE of 5 July 2006 (Gender the administrative status of their renters and to crimination against migrants on the housing Directive) and Directive 2004/113/ refuse to rent to people who cannot prove their market. A recent study from the German Federal CE of 13 December 2004 (Directive on right to rent a property. This is a major disincen- Anti-discrimination Agency showed that more equal treatment between men and tive to landlords, already suspicious of residency than one third of people from migrant back- women in the access to and supply of documents, to rent their property to beneficiaries grounds have been discriminated against on the goods and services). of international protection.171 In general, in all basis of their origin when trying to rent or buy a 170 countries, the limited period of the residence property.174 This is of course against the law, but European Agency for Fundamental permit can prevent access to a three-year rental convictions are rare. In December 2019, in the Rights (FRA) (2018), ‘Handbook contract. For example, in Spain, asylum seekers town of Augsburg, a German landlord received on European non- discrimination with a six-month residence permit are never a fine of EUR 1,000 for explicitly stating in his law’, available at: 172 https://fra.europa. accepted by private landlords. According to a property ad that he would only rent his property eu/sites/default/ 175 files/fra_uploads/ study carried out over the year 2018 in France by to people of German origin. fra-2018-handbook- non-discrimination- SOS Racisme, 87% of private landlords and 68% law-2018_fr.pdf 171 Refugee Council (2017), op. cit., available at https:// www.refugeecouncil. org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2019/03/ APPG_on_ Refugees_-_ Refugees_Welcome_ report.pdf 172 CIDOB (2019), op. cit. available at: https:// www.cidob.org/ en/publications/ publication_ series/notes_ internacionals/ n1_214/ to_be_or_not_to_be_ deficiencies_in_the_ spanish_reception_ system 173 SOS Racisme (2019), available [in French] at: http:// www.leparisien.fr/ societe/logement- et-racisme-un-an- d-enquete-sur-les- discriminations- 06-05-2019-8066877. php ; see also a similar study in Brussels: https://

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HOMELESS EXILES REMOVED FROM THE PUBLIC SPACE WITHOUT RECEIVING SHELTER In several European countries, including France, Belgium, England, Greece, Italy and Spain, there has been an increase in slums inhabited by refugees, asylum seekers, rejected asylum seekers, etc. The living conditions are very difficult for all inhabitants in these slums regardless of the administrative status of the individuals residing there. In France, despite a national slum clearance plan started in 2018, the issue persists: access to essential services such as water, sanitation, dignified and safe housing, healthcare, is generally obstructed in these places. A national manifesto signed by associations and citizen groups was published on 21 July 2019, to ‘end the inhuman situation of vagrancy and camps in France’. Incessant evictions from informal living spaces by law enforcement agencies, generally without any accompanying solutions for the people concerned, are major barriers to accessing fundamental rights, particularly the right to shelter in safe and dignified conditions. According to the ‘Observatoire des expulsions de lieux de vie informels’ [Observatory of evictions from informal living spaces], between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2019, 1,159 evictions from informal living spaces took place on mainland France, which translates to several thousand people being driven out, some of them several times in one year. It should be stressed that 85% of these evictions took place in the Hauts-de-France region where the Calais and Grande-Synthe camps, occupied by non-European migrants, are located. In 46% of cases, evictions led to confiscation and destruction of property belonging to the evicted people and in only 19% of cases could the evicted people retrieve all their belongings. In some cases, there has also been a level of violence on the part of the law www.citylab.com/ equity/2019/10/ enforcement agency towards the people being evicted. In 90% of the evictions considered housing- discrimination- in the survey, no accommodation or housing offer was made to the people evicted, which brussels-tenant- apartments-belgium/ means that all the people living in these informal living spaces were turned onto the street. 599080/?fbclid=IwAR In 2019, some operators (accommodation facilities under the national reception provi- 2E40i0iPa_ rzBLgFyuBiCylN5nm sions) received instructions from the State's decentralised services (Department prefects) sUAjb12mRcyqpYn AVJC1qrjiwXyNCk aiming to turn beneficiaries of international protection out onto the streets without any 174 rehousing solution, thereby adding to the existing camps. Estimations, made mainly during Friedel Taube evictions from these camps, take into account that beneficiaries of international protec- (2020), ‘Migrants face housing tion represent about 20% to 25% of people there, particularly in the Ile-de-France Region. discrimination in Germany’, DW, https://www.medecinsdumonde.org/fr/actualites/publications/2019/11/15/ 29 January 2020, available at: https:// observatoire-des-expulsions-de-lieux-de-vie-informels www.dw.com/ en/migrants- ‘Squatting’, ‘antisocial behaviour’, ‘incivility’, ‘neighbourhood disturbances’, ‘pollution’, etc.; face-housing- discrimination-in- occupation of public spaces by people suffering housing deprivation is seen primarily as a germany/a-52193155 ‘nuisance’, which focuses on the public order problems and not on the violation of dignity 175 and the relevant people's lack of choice in the matter. The Homeless Bill of Rights confirms DW ‘Augsburg landlord fined the fundamental rights stemming from international obligations and national rights in their for only renting to Germans’, 10 concrete form, which effectively enables homeless people to exit homelessness and to enjoy December 2019, available at: https:// the same rights as every human being. www.dw.com/ en/augsburg- https://www.fondation-abbe-pierre.fr/droitsdespersonnessansabri landlord-fined-for- only-renting-to- germans/a-51608127

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176 Homeless Mission in Strasbourg, extract from the 2018 report. 177 See for example the illuminating statements from people living in containers in Lyon, presented by operators as a ‘mobile village’ and a ‘social innovation of temporary occupation’ but described by the asylum seekers living there as unfit housing (no windows, no insulation, no private space, rent payment, no information and no participation of the inadequately housed people, etc.): ‘Putting people in containers, it's very humiliating. Containers are for putting on ships, for storing things... But storing people?’ ‘What makes me laugh is that Photo : Mauro Striano | Tentes sur le canal Saint-Martin – Paris, France after we arrived, they did drawings on the walls, they bought little decorations for the car park, flower pots etc. to make the containers 1,800 asylum seekers came through the Pada Feedback from the field prettier. I feel like they don't understand reception platform in Strasbourg in 2014, going and best practice the problem’. See: ‘ Sudfa (2020), ‘Ici – Les to 3,000 in 2016 and 4,000 in 2018. Two-thirds of containers ou la rue’ [Here it's containers or people housed in the Department of Bas-Rhin find the street], Les Blogs de Mediapart, available shelter in the Strasbourg Eurométropole, through [in French] at: https:// How can we define a good practice, a solution that blogs.mediapart.fr/ CADA and especially through HUDA. Those who sudfa/blog/050220/ makes a positive difference? ‘Social innovation’ ici-les-containers-ou- do not find a bed after passing to Guda stay close to la-rue?utm_content and ‘inclusive city’ are desirable concepts, but =buffer00935&utm_ the Prefecture for obvious reasons, i.e. Strasbourg, medium=social&utm at the same time they have become vague ideas _source=Twitter_ Mediapart&utm_ and form part of the groups that are regularly and labels behind which questionable practices campaign=CM found in tents. Our teams are constantly reporting are hidden under cover of ‘urban design’.177 Social 178 and raising the alarm on the increased number of Czischke Darinka innovations are judged truly innovative by their (2013), ‘Social people and families on the streets living in squats innovation in outcomes and their means, i.e. as much by the Housing: Learning from practice across or in camps in undignified sanitary and social process as by the result. The process is of crucial Europe’, Discussion paper commissioned conditions. ‘Categorising’ people who are look- importance, because it highlights the shift in how by the Chartered Institute of Housing ing for accommodation has become widespread things are done, particularly the ‘open, collabo- on behalf of the Butler Bursary, available across the territory, leaving families and single rative, participative, and non-linear aspects’.178 at: http://www.cih. org/resources/ people on the street and without care. We find Furthermore, innovation in housing is very con- PDF/Membership/ Social%20 regrettable the lack of political will for respecting text-specific. What is innovative in one country Innovation%20 in%20Housing%20 the principle of unconditional reception which might not be in another.179 Practices considered -%20Darinka%20 Czischke%20Final%20 underpins the tradition of solidarity to people in socially innovative have certain shared features, report%20and%20 appendix%20Dec%20 poverty in France. in particular ‘user involvement, user perspective, 2013.pdf 179 Mission’ sans-abris à Strasbourg cross-sector collaboration, multidimensional 176 180 Ibid. Médecins du Monde approach, streamlining, and user empowerment’.

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With this in mind, we will endeavour to present The housing of refugees by social landlords is here the reception initiatives for asylum seek- also practised in France, in an even more mar- ers and beneficiaries of international protection ginal way. The specific needs of this population regarding affordable, dignified, adequate, and sus- sometimes present challenges for the providers, tainable housing, that embody the vision of hous- who are well advised to upskill. ing as a fundamental right and common good.181 For the moment, the landlords surveyed had USING SOCIAL HOUSING, quite positive experiences, however difficulties IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC NEEDS AND have‘ escalated for the associations regarding lan- 180 INDIVIDUALISED SUPPORT : Ibid. guage barriers and, in some cases, very unstable 181 In the Netherlands, the transition towards accom- social or medical situations which hinder access See also the 33 best practices of housing modation/housing when refugee status has been to employment. Refugees often arrive with serious for refugees listed 182 in The Bartlett granted is systematic and sustainable. This is health issues or psychological trauma as a result Development Planning Unit one of the rare Member States where the asylum of their migratory route, which necessitates ade- University College London (UCL) (2018), system and the general reception system for quate care that is close at hand. With regard to ‘Affordable housing – Policy and practices homeless people remain interlinked to each other psychiatric issues, particularly the overwhelmed – Social innovation in housing for (aside from with regard to rejected asylum seek- CMPs (medical and psychological centres) and refugees’, available at: https://www.uia- ers). Beneficiaries of international protection are their extremely long wait-times, speedy treatment initiative.eu/sites/ of post-traumatic issues can be hampered for cer- default/files/2019-02/ prioritised for social housing: the COA (Central Curing%20the%20 tain refugees and thus their overall integration is Limbo_report%20 Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers), on%20housing_ negatively affected.184 Feb%202019%20 which manages first reception, has a distribu- %281%29.pdf tion methodology that reflects the needs of the ’ 182 person. For example, when a person already has In France, State-funded measures to promote https://www. housing for beneficiaries of international pro- government.nl/ a social network or the opportunity to find work topics/asylum- tection was piloted by DIHAL (Interministerial policy/asylum- in a particular area, the services will try to place procedure/reception- delegation for temporary accommodation and asylumseeker them accordingly. However, in the event of an access to housing), representing real progress unjustified refusal, no second offer will be made. 183 in the coordination of the various stakeholders Housing experts, The person's process is seen in the long term, in Norrbotten region, involved in integrating beneficiaries of inter- Sweden, FRA Report order to ensure there is no intermediate period 2019. national protection. In 2017, a first interminis- without a housing solution throughout the inclu- 184 terial circular aiming to make 20,000 housing Union Sociale pour sion process. Voluntary networks in the reception l’Habitat (2019), units available for beneficiaries of international ‘Contribution des municipalities help new residents to navigate the bailleurs sociaux protection was published and 8,700 units were au logement des school system, learn the language, navigate the réfugiés: Etat des mobilised in 2018. The strategy aims to develop lieux des bonnes healthcare system, etc. An increasing number of pratiques’ [The partnerships with social landlords and to use pri- Contribution of municipalities are organising training and facili- social landlords to vate landlords more, particularly with the use of housing refugees: tating access to work for new residents. Review of best rental intermediation. Regarding rental interme- practices], Direction In Sweden, the municipality of Luleå and the diation, a specific measure for refugees on their des politiques urbaines et sociales/ municipal public housing landlord (Lulebo) set own exists (‘Solibail’ is specifically for households June 2019, available [in French] at: a goal of making 25% of vacant housing availa- in difficulty, prioritising families living in hotels, https://www. union-habitat.org/ ble to beneficiaries of international protection but its offshoot ‘Solibail réfugiés’ is for beneficiar- sites/default/files/ articles/pdf/2019-08/ assigned to Luleå. Priority is given to families ies of international protection who are on their etudelogement 183 desrefugiesvf.pdf and to unaccompanied minors. own, living in hotels or accommodation centres).

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185 Despite everything, the finance provided A national platform for housing refugees was Due to reception places being more available in is not enough to properly bring also created in 2015 to promote mobility; some areas of economic and demographic decline, and about an ambitious policy enabling territories are particularly overwhelmed in terms with slow housing markets, distribution policies beneficiaries of international of access to social housing. The platform has tend to prioritise the placement of asylum seek- protection to access their rights. benefited at least 4,000 people since its creation. ers and refugees in these areas. This presents Furthermore, we note that the innovative Public funds have also been funnelled towards: provisions are a real challenge for accessing employment and invented and tested socially supporting rehoused refugees (carried on some territories, social inclusion in general, and risks reinforcing but the existing out by operators or local association structures); blockages regarding the effects of poverty and segregation. This type access to housing transitional accommodation structures (CPH, persist, despite of distribution needs to be countered by deliber- stakeholders who Temporary Accommodation Centres) with nine support beneficiaries ate and targeted local policies, that respect the of international months of support provided; transit centres and protection pointing wishes of migrants. Riace and Sutera in Italy are these out for several gateway housing; solidarity homeshares, etc.185 years. Nonetheless, examples of places where people in the reception the measures system have driven the creation of employment, tested regard fairly In Italy, some Housing First projects include low volumes of people (in 2018 for beneficiaries of international protection when supporting local economic recovery and diver- example, almost 46,700 people were they exit the asylum seeker reception system. sifying the approaches for maintaining rental granted international protection). It is properties. This demonstrates the potential for also noted that facilitating mobility USE OF VACANT PRIVATE HOUSING: such dynamics. of beneficiaries of international protection could Private rental stock is another resource that go against their Strategically locating housing is vital to individual care plan some local authorities use to house exiled and their territorial 186 people’s success and is necessary to avoiding bond. people. Rental intermediation in France and segregation, isolation and stigmatisation: ‘While 186 Belgium enable beneficiaries of international it is certainly advisable to distribute refugees Find out more protection to be housed.187 In Germany, the city about using the private market for of Dresden, through its Social Welfare Office, across the national territory, consideration must social purposes, see FEANTSA & agreed a partnership with Vonovia (one of the be given on a case-by-case basis to the location of Foundation Abbé Pierre (2018), ‘Louer country's biggest real estate groups) and with 132 housing allocated to a refugee household so that sans abuser’. Mobiliser le parc private landlords, in order to temporarily house they can access the necessary services but also, locatif privé à des fins sociales en asylum seekers in private apartments, by using in less densely populated areas, so that they can Europe’ [Ethical Renting: mobilise the properties which had been vacant for more than be mobile. As the 4 March 2019 instruction asks: private rental market to provide social six months.188 In June 2018, two-thirds of asylum what is the public transport network like? Is there solutions in Europe], ‘L’accès au logement seekers in Dresden were housed temporarily in potential for eco-friendly modes of transport digne et abordable en Europe : Boîte à private housing units and supported by social (walking, cycling, etc.)? Are supports available to idées et solutions innovantes’ [Access to workers to find permanent housing. Vonovia help get a driving licence, to rent a moped, etc.? Decent and Affordable 190 Housing in Europe: holds 10,000 permanent right-of-occupancy Could carpooling be an alternative?‘ Case Studies and Innovative Solutions], housing units on its books for the city of Dresden, available at: https:// SELF-RESTORATION OF DILAPIDATED www.feantsa.org/en/ which get allocated to low-income households report/2018/12/19/ HOUSING, BETWEEN RECEPTION ethical- and refugees. In Italy, several rural municipali- renting?bcParent=27 POLICIES AND URBAN RENEWAL: 187 ties that have lost a large section of their popula- Ibid. See also the tion over the last twenty years, have established Self-restoration of housing has proved success- Convivial movement in Belgium, deliberate reception policies using vacant prop- ful across various local contexts in addressing specialised in helping refugees erties to house exiles and encouraging their both the experiential needs and the independ- access housing and integrate: https:// inclusion through training, employment and par- ence of homeless people, through co-build- www.convivial.be/ 189 logement/ ticipation (via local artisanship for example). ing/renovating housing and communities, as

80 FIFTH OVERVIEW OF HOUSING EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2020 | FEANTSA - FONDATION ABBÉ PIERRE # CHAPTER 3 EXILED AND HOMELESS: RECEPTION AND ACCOMMODATION CONDITIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE 188 On 31 May 2018, Dresden's Social Welfare Office was responsible for 2,634 asylum seekers. In 2016, the number was 5,022. Two former hotels with a total capacity of 563 places, open since demonstrated by the 2015/16 winner of the UN’s otherwise), are often experienced by migrants 2015 to accommodate asylum seekers World Habitat Award, Canopy Housing, in Leeds ‘as a breathing space, a moment of respite in were closed at the 191 end of 2018 because in England. In Milan, Italy, ‘Houses Beyond- the rocky and ever-changing accommodation large-scale, rapid and sustainable the-Threshold’ was an architectural, artistic and landscape, which has a detrimental effect on rehousing had 193 been implemented. social project, carried out between 2016 and 2017 daily life’. In France, new guidance on the – Interview with Dominic Heyn, Social in the working-class neighbourhood of Molise ELAN law encourages the renovation and use of Policy Advisor, City of Dresden, June Calvairate, the objective being to offer inclusion empty buildings through occupancy by vulner- 2018. programmes through housing, employment and able populations, but this remains a temporary 189 culture to about twenty unaccompanied minors. solution subject to political agendas. Temporary See the examples of Sutera on Sicily: They were trained in accordance with the reception initiatives and/or sub-lets by host https://www. theguardian.com/ Architettura delle Convivenze method to restore families have increased significantly in recent world/2018/mar/19/ sutera-italy-the- dilapidated public housing, that they could then years, particularly in Italy, Spain, France, and sicilian-town- revived-by-refugees live in until they reach adulthood192. the United Kingdom: the CALM network in and Riace in the South of Italy: https:// France,194 Italy’s Vesta,195 Nausicaa, and Rifugiato www.bbc.com/news/ in-pictures-37289713 196 197 The renovation process in which these young in Famiglia projects, Refuges at Home in the 190 people participated led them to claim ownership United Kingdom, the Refugees Welcome net- Union Sociale pour l’Habitat (2019), ‘ work (present in 13 European countries) are all of the space that they were learning to transform. op. cit. This allowed them to identify with the living space, solutions, vital for the bonds they form and the 191 sharing of space they entail but they can never http:// to develop the sense of belonging required to move canopyhousing.org/ towards citizenship – even if it is not permanent replace a holistic, long-term public response to 192 ownership, as these housing units are for transi- the reception crisis that Europe is facing today. Nausicaa Pezzoni (2019), ‘Entre tional purposes. Self-restoration and construction In Europe, being granted international protection politiques d’accueil et régénération influence actual integration; they are seen as work is not an end in itself or an effective guarantee urbaine. Le projet “Maisons au-delà performed for oneself and for those who will come of protection. It becomes meaningless when its du seuil” à Milan’ [Between reception after, with the migrants themselves becoming protective aspect is jeopardised by unfit living policies and urban renewal: The project advocates for the system. All of the migrants said conditions, such as living on the streets or hous- ‘Houses Beyond-the- Threshold’ in Milan], that in addition to being in a place that they have ing deprivation. Métropolitiques, 19 December taken care of, that they belong to a place that will 2019,available Segmentation of exile accommodation facilities [in French] at: be a home to those who come after. They are thus https://www. in terms of their administrative status, extreme metropolitiques.eu/ taking care of a communal space, which is what Entre-politiques- overlap between the already-overwhelmed d-accueil-et- every project on community living is about. . regeneration- accommodation systems (asylum reception urbaine-Le-projet- Nausicaa Pezzoni speaking about the Maisons-au-dela-du. ’ system and general emergency accommodation html ‘Houses Beyond-the-Threshold’ project system), inadequate resources, poor planning 193 and coordination of each of these systems, frag- Céline Bergeon & Alice Cléry & MAKESHIFT SYSTEMS AND CIVIL mentation and abdication of political responsi- Anne-Cécile Hoyez & Faustine Viellot- SOCIETY SOLUTIONS: bilities (linked to short-term electoral agendas) Tomic (2019), ‘Retour sur une expérience are all factors that complicate and reduce the de logement Across Europe, makeshift systems and alter- des migrants: le possibility of exiles receiving shelter in digni- conventionnement native solutions are organised by civil society du squat des Jardins fied living conditions. de la Poterie à and associations in places where the State Renne’ [Feedback on migrant housing and/or public authorities do not assume their experience: legalising the responsibilities. Temporary accommodation Jardins de la Poterie squat in Rennes], solutions, like squats for example (approved or

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CONCLU- SION Métropolitiques, 7 November 2019, available [in French] at: https://www. metropolitiques. eu/Retour-sur- une-experience- de-logement- des-migrants. html?utm_source= articlesmet&utm_ In analysing the reception systems, a general depending on many factors specific to each medium=email&utm _campaign= observation – common to all countries consid- country. Some countries, by virtue of their geo- 2019_11_15 ered – was noted: the predominant approach graphical location at Europe’s external border, 194 focuses on managing migration flows rather such as Greece and Italy, have been subjected to https://www. singafrance.com/ than a process based on fundamental rights constant pressure over the last number of years. calm and looking after the essential needs of people As arrival countries – both first-line and transit 195 The health crisis is another https://www. seeking protection. – they bear the consequences of European divi- progettovesta. flagrant example of this: one of the first reactions com/en/ sions and a lack of coordinated solidarity, and 196 of several European countries was to close bor- have tightened up their national legislation to try https://www. ders and suspend asylum procedures, instead of and limit the heavy burden on their territory. The rifugiatoinfamiglia. it/ immediately providing people with shelter. situation on the Greek islands, which has been 197 However, this analysis also allowed different constantly criticised as inhuman since 2015, https://www. refugeesathome.org/ situations to be identified; situations that vary shames Europe as a collective project. Strong

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measures must be undertaken as a matter of ciently, in other European countries. Financial urgency to shelter people who are living in unfit inaccessibility, competitiveness and discrim- conditions there. ination – characteristics of housing markets across the European Union – are also barriers to Over the last decade, Spain has become one of the housing for refugees, with some having no other Member States receiving the highest number of choice than to turn to the black market, make- asylum seekers. However, the reception system shift homes, or the streets, with all the risks and has not evolved with these changes, in a similar damage to fundamental rights that this entails. vein to the French reception system, where the lack of specialised places and adequate funding has led a large number of people seeking Respecting procedure deadlines, ability to protection to turn to inappropriate solutions, adapt reception measures to people's profiles, such as general emergency accommodation or capacity to identify and actually take account makeshift informal shelter or even sleeping on of the vulnerabilities presented, seeking to the streets. Other countries, who are better pre- integrate people and make them independent pared, seem to be able to guarantee structured CONCLU- are all factors that would guarantee effective and dignified first reception, e.g. , while Germany right to asylum and therefore provide the pro- also maintaining a strategy for migration con- tection needed. For this, the necessary human trol. Across Europe, some categories of people and financial resources must be provided, and are deliberately excluded from support services this cannot be borne by already-overwhelmed or benefit from them to a lesser extent. They countries alone. By arming itself with asylum are the ultimate example of access to essential and immigration legislation, the European Union rights being made conditional on the arbitrary has laid the basis for harmonising reception con- right of being present in the country in the first ditions across Member States. Unfortunately, . SION place the leeway within this legislation has led, not Once protection has been granted, the obstacle towards top-down harmonisation, but the oppo- course has only just begun. In ensuring conti- site. At every stage of the asylum process, people nuity of accommodation on leaving the asylum are seeing their fundamental social rights reception system, only the Netherlands has violated. Because this is also reflective of the structured a pathway to leave the system and Europe-wide housing crisis, reception condi- move up the ladder, i.e. to dignified and long- tions and accommodation for exiles must be an term housing for beneficiaries of international integral part of social policies to combat poverty protection. Housing solutions for these people in the European Union. are available to some extent, but often insuffi-

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Photo : David Boureau | Emergency accommodation centre for Migrants, Paris-Ivry d'Emmaüs Solidarité – Paris, France

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