Asylum seeker fears for child amid hotel uncertainty

A woman is worried about the impact a sudden eviction from a hotel will have on her child's education

An asylum seeker who, alongside her child with special educational needs, is facing eviction from a Newcastle hotel has spoken about the mental anguish she feels the government has put her through.

The eviction is part of the government’s move to terminate deals with 50 hotels which are housing asylum seekers by January.

The Home Office said it is returning the hotels to their typical purpose.

But the asylum seeker says her child has only just settled into a local primary school and does not want them to move so suddenly.

She said the school has provided specialist support for her child and worries that a new school would not be able to provide the same level of aid so quickly.

The asylum seeker, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she was told on 6 December that she would be removed from the hotel on 12 December.

But she was not told where exactly she would be moved to.

She said the uncertainty has affected her sleep.

“[Today] I woke up at 02:00AM and I was awake until 06:30AM,” she said.

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The asylum seeker found out earlier on Tuesday, her official moving day, that she and her child have been found new accommodation in Hartlepool.

The location is about an hour and a half from her child’s current school, she said.

The asylum seeker is refusing to move, due to the disruption to her child's education.

The hotel is due to stop housing asylum seekers some time in January.

For the time being, the asylum seeker and her child are being allowed to remain in the Newcastle hotel.

'Killing my mind'

It is standard practice to not give asylum seekers advance notice of where they will be moved, the BBC understands.

This is because asylum seeker accommodation is in limited supply and so constantly needs to be procured and made ready for habitation.

This means there is no guarantee that a property will be ready for an asylum seeker until the very last minute.

For the asylum seeker, this uncertainty has had a severe effect on her mental health.

“If you want this asylum seeker to be a productive person for the community and to integrate and work… you need to preserve our mental stability,” she said.

“[They're] just killing my mind with the suffering,” she said.

'We're human'

The asylum seeker and her child are not alone in being affected by the termination of hotel deals by January.

She is one of 89 people affected by the ending of hotel deals in the North East, according to a Home Office response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Of these, 33 are children and in education.

“We’re human and we deserve to be treated with respect,” the asylum seeker said. “I will just keep praying and mediate, and pray with my child that everything will be OK.”

The eviction is part of the government’s move to terminate deals with 50 hotels which are currently housing asylum seekers by January

Mears, the firm responsible for providing accommodation to asylum seekers in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber in England, did not wish to comment.

"It's unacceptable to uproot families who are settled into schools and plunge them into uncertainty in this way," said Jenni Regan, the head of refugee charity IMIX.

"People seeking sanctuary from war and persecution are already traumatised, they've already uprooted their entire lives to find safety; the least we can do is offer them some stability."

The Home Office said it provides safe accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. They said that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers costs £8.2m a day and they are working to end this use.

A spokesperson added: "We will work closely with accommodation providers and local authorities to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on partners and service users alike."