BBC News, Leicester
BBCA couple who fled war in their home country of Sudan are facing homelessness after a miscarriage meant they no longer qualified for housing assistance.
Hafez Ali Ibraham, 28, sought asylum in the UK in 2021 and his wife Hawa Hassan, 22, joined him on a visa in September 2024 when he was granted refugee status.
She later discovered she was pregnant and the couple were given temporary hotel accommodation in Leicester, but after a miscarriage at the end of last year, the couple have been asked to leave next week.
Leicester City Council said it assessed whether it had a legal duty to house each person, and provided temporary accommodation for those who had a priority need, such as having children.
Slept on station floor
The war in Sudan has claimed more than 15,000 lives and about nine million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Mr Ibraham was placed in a hotel while he was an asylum seeker, but said since being given leave to stay in the UK, he had faced homelessness.
“Sometimes I slept on the floor at the train station,” he said.
Speaking through her husband, who translated for her, Mrs Hassan said: “Since I arrived here I’m not happy at all, because if I don’t have house, somewhere to live, I can’t be happy at all, because I don’t want to be homeless.”
Mr Ibraham added: “She was three months’ pregnant and she miscarried and she’s not happy from that time until now.”
The BBC understands the delay in the withdrawal of the couple’s accommodation was to allow them time to grieve due to the miscarriage.
The city council said it worked out if each person applying for housing had a priority need, such as having children, significant vulnerabilities, or a medical need.
In such cases, the council will provide temporary accommodation.
A spokesperson told the BBC: “If after the initial assessment, we believe they might be owed a housing duty, we will provide temporary accommodation.
“If, as in this case, we find that a person no longer meets the homelessness priority need criteria, we will give notice to end the temporary accommodation. The applicant has the right to review our decision.”
The authority said it advised people to try to find private rented accommodation as the quickest solution, as there were about 6,000 people on the register for a home.
When the hotel the couple were staying in told them they had to go, the couple sought help from the Somali Community Parents Association, in St Matthews, Leicester.
Abdikayf Farah, the CEO of the organisation, was an asylum seeker in Denmark and said he had seen many cases of people in similar circumstances.
He said: “There must be some transition for refugees with their accommodation.
“So many people are in a similar situation. It’s a really dire situation we are seeing.”
