The unsafe and uninhabitable conditions that asylum seekers are being forced to live in after fleeing to Scotland for help are today exposed by the Sunday Mail.
While many have run with their families from war and crime to seek shelter in the UK, they’ve been left in squalor in Glasgow.
An investigation by this newspaper has prompted calls for the UK Government to rethink the £500million contract it gives to a company called Mears to house asylum seekers.
And campaigners have reacted with fury at the conditions in Glasgow, which have been described as “inhumane” and a “catastrophic failing”.
Our probe into the conditions asylum seekers are living in has revealed claims they face:
● Freezing accommodation during winter with no power.
● Cramped flats with poor plumbing that causes toilet waste to leak into other rooms.
● Flats high up with unsafe windows that children could fall out of.
● Calls to an emergency helpline going answered.
The Sunday Mail spoke to several asylum seekers and campaigners in the city – but many are too scared to speak out in case their applications for long-term asylum are rejected.
The fears come amid growing pressure over how the Home Office looks after asylum seekers housed in Scotland, estimated to number 5000.
In 2019, Gloucester-based Mears was handed its lucrative decade-long contract to house them while a decision is made on their future.
Charity Migrant Help was drafted in to deal with housing complaints – and get Mears to fix them.
But asylum seekers have said the system is buckling under pressure.
Iranian Kurd Ali, 22, was put in a flat in the east end of Glasgow in November. Six weeks later his power was cut late at night. He contacted Migrant Help but couldn’t get through.
He said: “I was in a very cold, dark flat. I had no idea how it worked and needed help. Nothing was explained to me about the flat. I had no power and would sleep dressed with two blankets.
“I spent a day calling Migrant Help but got no answer. I ran out of battery and had to ask my neighbour to charge my phone. I felt helpless.”
Ali was helped by refugee charity Positive Action In Housing three days later. Local volunteer Helen Mitchell, 52, discovered a prepayment meter was in the home and had ran out of money, cutting his power.
But Mears’ contract means it should ensure that asylum seeker accommodation has power and heat.
Helen said: “It had never been explained to Ali. He was literally left in the dark. I put £30 out of my pocket into the meter.”
Organisations have also said Mears left a Nigerian mum in a flat where raw sewage leaked from pipes.
Mum-of-one Dolly was put in the converted flat last July.
But the redesigned property – converted to make its two bedrooms bigger at the expense of its bathroom – is believed to have caused toilet waste to flood into the kitchen.
After Mears failed to fix the problem, Dolly and her teenage daughter were moved to a temporary home in Govan – an hour-and-a-half’s travel from school. She has been told they plan to move her back to the flat when it is fixed.
Dolly said: “To begin with, toilet waste would come through the bathroom plug hole. It was fixed but started coming up through the kitchen sink instead. It was horrible.”
She is being helped by Metropolitan Community Church minister Jane Clarke.
She said: “We have a number of asylum seekers in the church. I understand the pressures the authorities face and it is temporary housing. But this home isn’t fit for purpose. Nobody would live there. It’s uninhabitable.
“Mears shouldn’t put anyone here. The problems can’t be fixed, in my opinion. They are using pipes that are too small to carry waste from the toilet.
“Generally asylum seekers are terrified to complain because they think it will affect their asylum application. Dolly shouldn’t have to live like this.”
Another case saw Mears move mum-of-three Kafayat after a four-month battle sparked by fears her disabled son could fall from the window.
Last August a five-year-old Afghan refugee fell to his death from a Sheffield hotel window after being placed there by the Home Office as part of the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme.
Kafayat, from Nigeria, said: “My six-year-old son has autism and other special needs. One day when I was in the kitchen he opened the window and dangled himself out. His disability means he doesn’t sense danger. I only went into the next room for a minute.
“I complained. I ended up putting a duvet over the window to stop him doing it again.
“It was only after four months and a charity getting involved that they moved me to a ground-floor flat where we are
now safe.”
Positive Action In Housing said it believed the cases showed Mears was failing asylum seekers.
CEO Robina Qureshi said: “We believe they are breaching their contracts. Their contract means they have to provide safe and habitable housing. These cases show they are not doing that.
“It is a catastrophic failing and one we are seeing over and over. These are only the cases where people are brave enough to show us what is going on and ask for help.
“How many more are suffering but too scared to ask for help?”
Aid bodies and politicians also criticised the authorities following our probe.
The SNP’s home affairs spokesman Stuart McDonald said: “The Home Office has been warned time and time again that privatised asylum accommodation contracts are totally failing people seeking refuge here, as well as the communities in which they are placed.”
Scottish Greens human rights spokesperson Maggie Chapman said: “Asylum seekers in Scotland are housed in inhumane conditions by a Home Office still pursuing a racist ‘hostile environment’ agenda.
“I have been appalled to hear about cases where a lack of basic support and healthy living conditions places people at risk.”
Sabir Zazai, chief executive of Scottish Refugee Council, said: “These reports are deeply concerning. A safe, stable and secure place to live is the most basic foundation from which a person can rebuild their life.
“It is unacceptable that families and individuals are facing such dire conditions in Scotland.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “These serious reports paint a troubling picture of the state of this accommodation and how it is being used and maintained.”
Migrant Help admitted it didn’t always answer calls quickly enough.
A spokesperson said: “We have increased our staffing over the past 18 months.
"However, at times of high demand, the wait times can become longer.
“In December the average waiting time was 13.5 minutes, with approximately 30 minutes’ average wait for specialised advisers.”
The Sunday Mail put all the concerns to Mears. In response, a spokesman said it was the firm’s responsibilty to keep power and heating in asylum seekers’ homes.
It said prepayment meters were there when it took over the contract and the company was phasing them out.
He said the firm had not received any complaints from Ali and it would have sorted the problem if it had known.
About Dolly, he said: “The issue at this property was caused by blocked drains, causing waste to back up.”
He said it was being fixed so she could move back in.
On Kafayat, he said she had been moved over the window concerns.
He added: “The three specific claims do not give an accurate or fair reflection of our service and we strongly refute them.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are dealing with unprecedented pressures on the asylum system, but despite this we continue to ensure the accommodation provided is safe, comfortable and secure. "
