A London charity has begun helping homeless Polish migrants to find jobs in order to tackle the growing number sleeping rough in the capital.

Broadway began taking small groups of homeless Poles to local job centres last week to get national insurance numbers so that they can work. The move is one of a number of initiatives to help Poles who after coming to the UK to look for work after Poland joined the European Union on 1 May but ended up homeless. Under rules governing the 10 states who joined the EU this year, the Poles cannot claim welfare benefits.

Broadway’s day centre has about 40 to 50 Polish clients, and the charity’s outreach teams have found about 20 sleeping rough around Hammersmith in west London, which has a well-established Polish community.

The increase in clients could put a strain on services as winter comes and more rough sleepers come in out of the cold. Many of the charities and local authorities working with the Poles have urged the Polish government to help.

Susan Fallis, services manager at Broadway, said: “We need preventative work in Poland. People are led to believe they are coming to a land of opportunity but that’s not the case. There needs to be information on housing and employment.”

Source

Housing Today