August 26, 2026
A call for dignity and sanctuary
At LRMN, we are committed to supporting people seeking sanctuary, with a simple principle at the heart of our work: everyone deserves dignity and the opportunity to build a secure life.
This commitment is reflected in our work every day and is why LRMN has joined more than 50 community organisations and NGOs in signing an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a fairer and more humane approach to asylum accommodation and housing.
Across our services, we see how housing insecurity and an increasingly complex immigration system affect people seeking sanctuary. Our 2025 impact figures give a snapshot of the scale of need:
- 2,000+ people supported across LRMN’s services
- 1,300+ food parcels provided to people facing destitution
- 746 people received immigration advice
Through our partners, we support people with immigration and housing cases, while our Housing and Welfare Benefits service provides tailored support to help people access the essentials they need for a more stable life. Although our impact figures show what can be achieved through community support, they also highlight a wider problem: the need continues to be far greater than the support available.
The hostile environment faced by migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum continues to shape the lives of the communities LRMN supports.
Changes to immigration policy, barriers to employment and essential services, insecure housing, destitution and increasingly hostile political narratives all add to these pressures.
As demand for our services grows while resources remain limited, community organisations are often left filling gaps that cannot address the structural issues driving homelessness, destitution and insecurity.
The open letter brings together more than 50 organisations working directly with people with lived experience across the UK. It raises serious concerns about the asylum accommodation system, including poor and unsafe housing, private contractors, a lack of transparency and accountability, and limited local involvement in decision-making.
The letter also challenges proposals that could deepen insecurity and marginalisation, such as expanding detention and policies that could push refugees further into debt. It places the asylum housing crisis within the UK’s wider housing emergency, emphasising the shortage of social housing and reliance on costly temporary and private accommodation.
The organisations are calling for a more humane approach, including a major expansion of social housing, greater powers for local and regional authorities, stronger public control and greater accountability in housing and procurement.
At LRMN, we know that policy decisions affect real people, families and communities. People seeking asylum who have already fled oppression and violence should not face further insecurity when seeking safety.
Read the open letter here on Refugee Action’s website and the organisations who signed it.