Producing urban asylum

This research represents the first endeavour to examine the impacts of recent attempts to privatise asylum dispersal accommodation and provision within the UK. The research will explore how the changing policy landscape of dispersal is negotiated by urban authorities, asylum advocacy groups and asylum seekers, and will seek to understand how cities are experienced of those seeking asylum. The research will inform policy debates at national and local levels over asylum provision and foster wider public discussion over how cities may respond to the needs of asylum seekers.

Following the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act, the UK has followed a policy of dispersing asylum seekers across the country to a series of 'dispersal zones' for accommodation while awaiting decisions on their asylum status. There has since been tensions over the provision of services in different areas, debates over providing housing in rural detention centres and a growth in UK and European sanctuary movements which argue for greater rights for those awaiting refugee status or removal. These issues have received widespread media, political and public attention, and incited academic debate over the ways in which detention, deportation and dispersal control the lives of asylum seekers. In 2009 however, the UK Border Agency announced moves to increase the private provision of dispersal accommodation and to halt contracts with local authorities. Such a move effectively ends the provision of public housing to asylum seekers in a number of British cities.

Within this context, the research considers how debates over the privatisation of asylum provision relate to the wider politics of cities as places of competing interests, priorities and publics. As such, the research is focused upon exploring the ways in which UK cities have imagined their relation to asylum as a political issue through the varied discourses and views of policy makers and local authorities, asylum seekers and the wider public. The multi-sited research is centred upon four key dispersal cities, namely Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Sunderland. These cities have been selected due to their significant dispersal numbers and their important local differences. Such as, tensions and febrile policy debates over the provision of asylum accommodation in the cases of Birmingham and Glasgow, the context of Welsh devolution in the case of Cardiff, and a consideration of a smaller and less ethnically diverse city in the case of Sunderland. In each city a multi-method approach will encompass archival and media research, interviews with key figures in the refugee sector and local authorities, a public engagement discussion for stories of asylum, interviews with asylum seekers and activists and participant observation of asylum campaigns.

In exploring how cities are situated within discussions of asylum and how they are experienced by asylum seekers this research will develop a critical account of how negotiations over policy, rights and provision may potentially direct urban futures in the UK. In exploring these questions, the research will inform public policy on asylum dispersals, local authority provision of services and accommodation, and the work of asylum advocacy groups and community organisations. To do so, the research will produce outputs intended for a range of audiences within and beyond higher education, including academic publications in key journals, a book proposal on the subject of cities and asylum, short articles for the policy and third sector community, and a project website with podcasts and blogs detailing the progress of the research and its key findings. The findings of the research will thus be communicated widely to policy audiences, asylum and refugee groups and the general public to ensure that the research has a significant impact in shaping understandings of urban asylum in the UK and providing a rich evidence base for future policy.

The proposed research will benefit a wide-range of user groups, being of particular benefit to;
1. The UK Border Agency who control UK asylum policy nationally and run nationwide dispersals. The potential for impact is significant here in terms of shaping future policy approaches to asylum dispersal, accommodation and welfare provision through highlighting experiences of dispersal in Britain today.
2. The local authorities, councillors and MP's of the four case study cities, along with other dispersal zone urban authorities. These groups will benefit from a focus on their work to accommodate asylum groups and impact is envisioned in best practice cases being transferred between authorities.
3. Regional Strategic Migration Partnerships in each study area will benefit from an examination of the experiences of asylum seekers within their region, together with an analysis of the power relations of different asylum organisations and authorities. Impact would be evidenced in offering evaluative data to support the work of migration partnerships in accommodating those seeking asylum.
4. Asylum seekers in each of the four cities will benefit from the opportunity to discuss their experiences of dispersal. These narratives will be utilised to offer policy recommendations to local authorities and UKBA and as such may indirectly impact the lives of those seeking asylum both now and in the future.
5. Asylum NGOs, service providers and third sector organisations will benefit from the heightened profile of their work in each city and through a greater understanding of the contexts and experiences of urban dispersal. Best practice cases of asylum provision and support will be transferred between cities and via dissemination documents and presentations so as to impact future approaches to asylum welfare. Here the researcher has existing links with British Red Cross as a starting point for networking.
6. Social movements and campaigns on asylum such as No Borders, City of Sanctuary and Refugee Action will benefit from a focus on how they may influence the negotiations of urban authorities on asylum. Cases of good practice and creative ideas for advocacy will be compiled and disseminated through the researchers existing network of contacts with City of Sanctuary (see letter of support).
7. The Asylum Seeker Support Teams of each urban authority will benefit from a comprehensive exploration of the context and experience of dispersal in their city, thus allowing insights into asylum seeker's use of services and support to be communicated.
8. The wider public of each city may benefit from an in-depth focus upon the history of their city relative to asylum, from the opening of debate over asylum issues within their city and from opportunities to engage with asylum groups in discussion forums. Impact here may be long term and incremental in terms of a shifting orientation to asylum issues in the future.
9. Urban housing authorities will benefit from the study of dispersal accommodation and the ways in which different cities negotiate contracts with UKBA and private housing contractors. This will impact future decision-making and policy transfer between cities.
10. Nationwide think-tanks and public policy groups such as IPPR, ICAR and the Institute of Race Relations will benefit from research which intersects with their key agendas. The research will help to shape the approaches to asylum these groups take in their lobbying activities.
11. European policymakers, practitioners and organisations with a focus on forced migration, such as the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, will benefit through a focus on the practice of dispersal in the UK context as a means to draw comparisons to other European dispersal schemes. Examples of good practice, the privatisation of asylum accommodation and the impact of welfare restrictions on asylum experience will all be used to promote policy transfer and the impact of the research.