Open Hands Project
We offer short-term housing to destitute asylum seekers – our city’s hidden poor.
About The Open Hands Project
We offer short-term housing to destitute asylum seekers – our city’s hidden poor, who are denied the right to find jobs or to live in social housing yet call Sheffield their ‘home’. Since 2007 we have housed around 70 failed and destitute asylum seekers from over 20 different countries.
We estimate there are several thousand destitute asylum seekers in Sheffield. Many have lost all means of support and their accommodation has been withdrawn. Some qualify for meagre emergency grants or weekly meals from agencies or churches. Many simply survive hand-to-mouth, often living on friend’s floors. We believe you can help.
We’ve helped over 70 asylum seekers in Sheffield get their lives back on track. For up to 1 year we provide a room in a small shared house with good quality living standards, and we pay essential bills like heating and council tax. We encourage our guests to submit new claims to the Home Office during this time.
“I worked for UNICEF in my old country”
– Ben (Somalia).These people are just like you and me, often with families overseas, and professions they have had to leave behind. Now they are denied the opportunity to provide for themselves in the UK. We want them to have a warm home to begin to rebuild their lives in.
