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Voices of the Destitute

Hungry and homeless, they are living in a kind of limbo, banned from working yet unable to access benefits.

Many do not know where they will be sleeping from one night to the next: in parks and bus stations, public toilets and phone boxes, abandoned buildings, or the floors of friends. For survival, they rely on food parcels and the charity of others.

Many are from countries torn apart by conflict, or where persecution, imprisonment and torture are widespread – countries like Zimbabwe, Somalia, Iraq, and Sudan. Terrified at the prospect of returning, they are trapped in lives without hope or purpose or dignity.

Some sections of the press would have us believe that asylum seekers are living in the UK in comfort, enjoying generous benefits. For tens of thousands of destitute people, such headlines carry a terrible irony.

This is asylum’s untold story.

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