Sanctuary Hosting matches homeless asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants to people in the community with spare rooms and open hearts, to stay rent free for an agreed period of time. We work throughout the Thames Valley, in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

For our guests who are seeking asylum, getting Home Office accommodation can take time. And if local housing charities get government funding, that restricts them from housing asylum seekers who have no recourse to public funding – so often they can’t help. Hosting can be the ideal stop-gap.

While many refugees can access services such as welfare benefits and local authority support, they can have difficulties finding private housing because of high rents and big deposits. Hosting gives them time to find work and save up, so they can move into their own place.

Vulnerable migrants may have applied to the Home Office for leave to remain but are not able to get public funds, so a lot of housing charities can’t help them either. Homeless migrants in the UK are often left with little or no support, so hosting can be a lifeline while their immigration applications go through.