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The Refugee Crisis

Bradford has a long history of helping refugees in times of need. It is very good that they have been willing to take in many people because there have been serious concerns raised about the immigration centers in the UK at large. The earliest known point of Bradford helping refugees would be back in the 17th century when the Huguenots (French protestants) were escaping mass killings by King Louis XIV of France. When Bradford signed the Refugee Convention in 1951, this lead to an influx of refugees from areas like Poland, Ukraine, and Latvia flooding Bradford. In recent times, Bradford has begun to open itself up to refugees from the Middle East. Bradford was the first city in the United Kingdom to sign up for the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (VPRS). This gives refugees humanitarian protection for five years with rights to work, welfare benefits, health and education and the right to apply for other family members to be reunited with them. While working alongside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, they look to find the most at-risk refugees for eligibility. Because of this, there are many refugees that are able to get a life-saving treatment that they would have otherwise been unable to get. For many, traveling for the treatments that they needed for their various ailments meant certain death. There are times where the prices for medical needs in their home countries makes it so that treatments are abhorrently expensive.

Bradford now hosts 106 Syrian refugees, which is more than any other city in the United Kingdom. “The UNHCR estimates more than half of the country’s pre-war population has been displaced, with at least 6.5 million Syrians displaced internally and 3.8 million Syrians registered as refugees in countries in the Middle East and North Africa.”These refugees make up approximately 0.1% of Bradford's populationThere are also approximately 300 Rohingya refugees currently living in Bradford thanks to the Gateway Protection Programme. The Rohingya are fleeing mass persucution in their home country of Myanmar. Currently, the Bradford Rohingya are the largest collection of an ethnic group outside their home country. Also, in 2015, Bradford took in half of the United Kingdom’s refugee population, with refugees coming from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. “The Gateway Protection Programme (GPP) is a planned migration programme managed jointly by Home Office, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration. In Bradford, a partnership developed between Local Authority, Horton Housing, Bevan Healthcare, Clinical Commissioning Groups and housing providers which successfully delivered Gateway refugee programmes since December 2008 to date. We have resettled over 900 refugees from Burma (Rohingya), Iraq, Somalia, Bhutan, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, and Iraq”. Unfortunately, many refugees have lost much in order to arrive in Bradford.

Fortunately, there are sources that refugees are able to use. One of the companies that are a part of this is Refugee Action which offers many services for refugees. This includes refugees who are struggling to find housing, and helping them through the various avenues to get legally resettled. This also means they help with working with local authorities and the VPRS to get refugees settled. Thanks to the VPRS the refugees coming are able to find cities that will take them in, and places to stay and build their lives. Therefore this institution, along with others in the area, is helping to give refugees the resources that they need to remain in Bradford and also succeed in the United Kingdom.There are also many sources for those already in the community to get involved. Another resource is called the Horton Housing Association (HHA), which has offices across Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and North Yorkshire. Like Refugee Action, they help refugees with getting settled, finding jobs, and housing. In 2015, they helped settle the 106 refugees based in Bradford; which is half of the refugees that the UK took in that year in total through the VPRS. “Horton Housing works closely with partners including Bradford Council, private landlords, schools, its own training centre and other training providers and the Jobcentre to make sure people coming to the city are given a warm welcome,” HHA also provides other services for other groups in need of help, including homeless aid and housing accommodations. “We have a wide range of accommodation schemes including hostels, intensive housing management (with a warden or night staff) and dispersed units in the community. We also provide specialist accommodation, including a home from hospital scheme, Gypsy and Traveller sites in North Yorkshire and Group Living Services (for young care leavers) in Bradford. Some of our schemes offer ‘floating support’ where a support worker will visit you in your own home to help you to maintain a tenancy or to prevent you from becoming homeless. We have specialist services offering support for people with drug and alcohol problems, people with mental health issues and ex-offenders.” They also have a program currently that matches people who need housing with those who are willing to provide it. “The Supported Lodging scheme gives a young person, who is homeless or at risk of homelessness, a warm, safe place to live, support in preparing to live independently and the chance to look forward to the future.” Another group that is currently helping out refugees in Bradford and the UK at large is Bevan Healthcare. Their mission statement is: “‘A responsive organisation promoting high-quality health & social care for the most vulnerable members of society.’ Bevan Healthcare is a Social Enterprise. We are committed to helping people get the health care that they need. At Bevan House Primary Care Centre we provide responsive NHS General Practice services designed to meet the needs of people who are homeless or in unstable accommodation; those who have come to Bradford as refugees or to seek asylum.” Like the other companies, they also resources to other groups that need their help. They also have a street medical team. They bring healthcare to various places for those who are without homes. They also have a very helpful resource page that links to places like Bradford Action for Refugees which is all about supporting asylum seekers and refugees, Bradford City of Sanctuary which is a group of volunteers working to extend the culture of welcome and hospitality to those seeking sanctuary in Bradford, resources like the City of Sanctuary national website which is a movement committed to building a culture of hospitality and welcome, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution, and the Bradford Resource Centre (BIASAN) which is providing drop-in with hot food, legal advice, women & children support, musical, artistic & gardening activities. They also have other resources like the British Red Cross, the Migration Observatory (which is just a good general resource for asylum seekers and refugees),and the G4S Compass Project, which was the provider of initial and dispersed accommodation for asylum seekers in Yorkshire, Humber and the North East. The University of Bradford has also made it so that asylum-seekers and/or their dependents can apply for large portions of their finances to be paid for so that they are able to go to school.