Procurement of Housing for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (Hillingdon)

This case study looks at the steps Hillingdon took in developing an action plan to improve procurement of housing for unaccompanied asylum seeker children.

A review of housing for unaccompanied asylum seeker children (UASC) aged 18-21 commenced in June 2006 in response to the changes in the level of the Asylum Seeker Grant from Government. The remit was subsequently extended to incorporate the demand for permanent re-housing for Social Services' clients i.e. people with learning disabilities, people with mental health issues, and children leaving care. This was due to common elements running across all of these services. 

The work covered three main areas as follows:

1. Procurement of property for UASC from private landlords
2. Administration of property procurement and management
3. Permanent re-housing for Social Services' clients

The outcomes & outputs were:

• Permanent re-housing for Social Services' clients
• Reduced cost of procurement of property from private landlords potential saving of £288k per annum
• Increase number of placements with preferred landlords potential savings of £50k per annum
• Reduction of associated charges and streamlining of administration
• Improved utilisation of permanent housing stock