When Irfan received his refugee status in the summer of 2023 after 18 months of waiting and being barred from seeking work, he thought the hardest year of his life was finally behind him. The very next day he went for a job interview and got a position working for a security firm. The 24-year-old — who is unable to return safely to his native Pakistan for political reasons — had been a star student in school and was full of hope he could also now pursue his ambition of studying to become an economist.
But a few days later he received the standard notice that he had 28 days to leave his Home Office accommodation and find somewhere else to live. He did not have money to rent privately so he approached the council, but single men are low priority and it said he would have to wait.
