Emergency fund for homeless women seeking asylum

35 women in the WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together) network are homeless and destitute. Until February this year, the women were receiving support from the Migrant Destitution Fund but this fund is closed and the women in our network are left with no financial support.

Losing this support has been devastating for these women.

"With the Migrant Destitution Fund, I was able to buy food, toiletries, top-up my airtime, just my basic needs. Since the fund closed it has been a struggle for me to afford my very basic needs. It is distressing for me, and it affects me mentally. We can not work, so that funding helps a lot to get my life around. As a woman, it is so sad that I can't buy the basic things I need to keep going. My dignity has been taken away, it's a tragic and very difficult life. Please help us."

- Grace*, a destitute member of the WAST network

Homeless women that are seeking asylum are some of the most vulnerable women in our society. 

At the National Refugee Women’s Conference in 2017, which we hosted with Women For Refugees Women, we were told how women that were homeless felt that their experiences of destitution, and its impact on their safety and wellbeing, were unseen and unheard. 

As a result of that conference, Women For Refugee Women undertook research in 2020 into women seeking asylum in destitution. They found that:

How you can help

We are looking to raise £2,500 to help support the homeless women in our network so we can provide vital funding for culturally appropriate food, hygiene products and essential travel.

Thank you for your support