As reported on BBC East Midlands Today television news earlier this month (see video clip), frustrated asylum seekers along with the local charity, Refugee Action, have exposed an example of how a housing association “Refugee Support” is taking vast amounts of public money whilst providing worse than ‘sub-standard’ accommodation through private landlords.

Refugee Support is one of the Metropolitan Support Trust’s (MST) refugee ‘services’ that provides housing for many asylum seekers in Britain. MST in turn is part of the of the vast Metropolitan Housing Partnership. According to the Refugee support website, “MST was created in April 2007 from four organizations (Refugee Housing Association, StepForward, Threshold Support and Walbrook Support) coming together to provide a wide range of specialist services to vulnerable people.”

Well, this news report shows not only how some of these ‘vulnerable people’ spoken of by MST were forced to shame them by getting Refugee Action and the local BBC involved to make public just what a terrible state their house was in, but also how one of them was threatened with being made homeless for complaining when offered it. The ceiling was leaking and falling in and the heating did not work.

Typically, the BBC also concentrates on ‘cost to the taxpayer’, although at least they remember to say that government policy won’t let asylum seekers work, so their housing has to be provided by the state. The report also explains that this is not an isolated case, mentioning other complaints in Leicester (with 12 people sharing one shower). So next time someone goes on how asylum seekers are costing the taxpayer, remind them that it’s rip-off merchants like Metropolitan, and the private landlords they deal with, that are taking the piss here.

YouTube video clip: http://www.youtube.com/v/Nm9Hk0YYg9A.