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Sub-regional Immigration Advice Service (SIAS) / Equipping Shelters Fund Impact Report 2024-25

July 29, 2025

Housing Justice supports a nationwide network of faith- and community-led night shelters that provide vital emergency accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.

Our role is to offer coordination, training, and resources to these shelters, ensuring good practice, shared innovation, and advocating for policy change that reflects the realities of life on the frontline. Increasingly, our shelters are supporting people who are barred from mainstream homelessness services because of their immigration status and having no recourse to public funds (NRPF).

To address this growing need, London Councils allocated £100,000 in grant funding through the Equipping Shelters Fund, supporting shelters to accommodate and assist people with immigration advice needs. The Sub-regional Immigration Advice Service (SIAS) fund focuses on individuals with NRPF and in urgent need of stable accommodation while navigating the complex immigration and legal systems. 

Six projects were awarded grants ranging from £10,000 to £25,000. These grants enabled a wide range of support, from emergency accommodation to wrap-around casework and advocacy. 

FUND OVERALL OUTCOMES 

OUR REPORT FINDINGS

How Outcomes Were Achieved 

Projects identified the following elements as essential to achieving successful outcomes for guests with unclear immigration status: 

• Stabilising Bridging Accommodation  
• Specialist Immigration and Legal Casework 
• Deposit / Rent-In-Advance Support
• Wrap-around / Holistic Support
• Multi-agency Partnerships & Community Mobilisation
• Cliff-edge Avoidance

“…with only a week or so left in his (Guest K’s) stay in the Shelter it would have taken several months (if not longer) to be able to save for a deposit and rent-in-advance required… to get into appropriate move-on accommodation – so the funds were incredibly valuable… he was able to move into his first accommodation in 21 years successfully!” 

CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING OUTCOMES

Despite successes, projects faced significant barriers: 

Projects highlighted the following as barriers to achieving the desired outcomes for guests: 

1. High-complexity client profiles
2. Immigration and legal system delays
3. Limited specialist capacity
4. Funding and resource constraints
5. Client disengagement / relapse
6. Lower than expected footfall / interest in change  

“None of these clients presented with simply an immigration issue. Immigration may be the barrier to wider support and services, but ultimately their homelessness has been historically perpetuated by their mental health, substance misuse and inability to access services, housing or employment.” 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Based on these challenges the following recommendations are suggested: 

1. Longer, flexible accommodation funding
2. Dedicated, full-time caseworker posts
3. Guaranteed access to free, high-quality immigration advice
4. Harm-reduction approaches 
5. Budgeting for wrap-around costs and overheads  

The grant programme has revealed some key strategies for working with those with NRPF and unclear immigration status: 

• Safe, immediate accommodation unlocks engagement

• Partnership working is the primary success factor 

• Specialist immigration advice is non-negotiable  

• Holistic, Trauma Informed support outperforms single-issue approaches

• Community and volunteer mobilisation amplifies capacity

• Adequate case-worker time is critical 

• Flexibility in funding duration increases impact

• Volunteers Multiply Capacity

• Full-Time Caseworker Capacity is Needed

• Funding Flexibility Boosts Impact
   

CONCLUSION

The Equipping Shelters Fund was a lifeline—providing time, space, and professional support to help individuals in crisis begin the journey to long-term stability. 

Success stories across all six projects show that safe accommodation, specialist immigration support, and wrap-around services, delivered by committed, multi-agency teams, can move even the most vulnerable people toward housing and belonging. 

Outcomes were hardest to secure when external systems (immigration, legal) moved slowly and when clients presented with overlapping, high-risk needs that exceeded the scope or duration of available funding. Addressing these structural barriers, through longer funding cycles, specialist capacity, and flexible, trauma-informed practice, will be key to improving future success rates. 

If we are serious about ending rough sleeping for everyone, regardless of immigration status, these models must be sustained and scaled.