Council gets grant for Afghan resettlement scheme

Stoke-on-Trent City Council will receive £1.2m in government funding to house 15 Afghan families

More than £1.2m of government funding will be used to provide homes for 15 Afghan refugee families in Stoke-on-Trent, according to the city council.

The authority secured the funding through a national programme aimed at resettling refugees who have fled Afghanistan since the country fell under Taliban control in 2021.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council plans to use the money to refurbish five long-term empty homes it already owns, and to purchase a further 10 properties.

When the two and three bedroom houses are no longer needed by the refugees they will become council homes for general allocation.

Council leaders said the scheme would allow them to support vulnerable people while also securing government cash to support expansion of the authority’s housing stock.

Afghan refugees eligible for the housing include those who worked alongside British armed forces, along with other vulnerable groups such as woman and girls, who have come to the UK under the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme or similar programmes.

'Moral responsibility'

Councillor Chris Robinson, council cabinet member for housing, said: "Stoke-on-Trent is a welcoming and diverse city and we are proud to be able to provide shelter for those fleeing tyranny.

"As a country we have a moral responsibility to the people of Afghanistan who bravely stood alongside the British, and for democracy, against the brutal Taliban regime.

"In the longer term, these properties will be added to the council’s housing stock – meaning this humanitarian act will also have a long-term legacy for the entire city."

The council previously criticised the government for relocating hundreds of asylum seekers to Stoke-on-Trent under the Home Office’s dispersal scheme – which is separate to the Afghan resettlement scheme.

According to the most recent government figures, a total of 1,156 asylum seekers were being accommodated in Stoke-on-Trent in June, equating to 45 per 10,000 population - one of the highest ratios in the country.

The Afghan housing scheme is set to be approved by the authority's cabinet on Tuesday.

A report to council bosses said the authority had considered the impact on local resources but that the scheme had "significant financial incentives" for the authority.

According to the report, there would be no requirement for the council to match fund the government grant, and the aim was to deliver the homes with as little additional funding as possible.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.