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Are Eastern European migrants facing tougher times?

May 18 2009
Eastern European migrants face tough challenges in finding work or surviving on the streets in London A report into Eastern European migrants in the UK has found that they face some of the toughest challenges in finding work or surviving on the streets in London. The report comes hot on the heels of The Pavement's revelations that The Passage is to restrict the number of EU migrants using their services, and that The Connection at St Martin's (CSTM) is to follow suit. The Catholic Church in London commissioned The Ground of Justice Report in May 2006 to aid organisations' understanding of the challenging and complex issues facing migrants. The report, released on 14th February, confirmed that The Passage and the nearby Cardinal Hume Centre experienced large increases in the number of accession country nationals seeking help after May 2004. By April 2006, half of The Passage's Employment, Training and Education Unit clients were migrants who had come for work but had fallen on hard times. Both shelters said it had been difficult to respond to these demands, which can put a financial strain on small voluntary organisations. As The Pavement reported last month, many organisations see migrants as the responsibility of the government, through Jobcentre Plus; their priorities lie with people from the UK. The report investigated allegations of "new racism abroad", whereby Catholic homelessness agencies used nationality as a basis for restricting services, particularly to Polish migrants. Allocating aid on the grounds of origin would, in any other circumstances, be deemed racist. "To define need in relation to nationality risks actively excluding the needy and subverting the Bishops?î??? vision of welcome," the report said. "The homeless people we interviewed certainly felt this keenly." The report also surveyed Poles who were homeless in London but not using services at The Passage or Cardinal Hume, to ascertain whether this was a city-wide problem. In one service centre, 75 per cent of people seeking meals were Polish. Project workers placed these clients in five categories: those who came to the UK through agencies which promised accommodation but failed to provide it; those unsuccessful in finding work; people who found only short-term work; those employed, often illegally, but paid so little they could not afford accommodation; and women who had turned to low level prostitution. Most respondents lived with depression or other health problems, and many had language or educational difficulties. Half did not know how to find work in the UK. Despite few feeling at home here, one in four said they would stay indefinitely to avoid the shame of admitting failure to family at home. Only one had a National Insurance number, and all claimed to attend church every week. But the question remains whether a country should maintain an open door policy to European workers whom it obviously cannot support. Is it fair that they should be added to the list of people struggling in the city, when they are promised something entirely different? A statement from London's Catholic community explained that Catholic migrants regard the Church as a refuge, a harbour of hope and worship: "Migrants are very much the present reality of the Catholic Church in London and one of several sources of hope for the Catholic Church of the future too," the report said. "In our view they are also a source of hope for the future of the nation." CSTM defended its position and denied racism. Colin Glover, its chief executive, said: "Like many voluntary sector agencies in London, we have limited resources and want to provide the best services to those in greatest need. Many of our clients have mental health problems, chronic health problems, drug or alcohol problems, and lead chaotic lives. "Each night, we have only 40 bed spaces in our night shelter and we have the capacity to help just over 200 people in our day centre each day." Mr Glover added that the Connection was working with Homeless Link to lobby the government to ensure adequate support for new EU members.
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