The Harborough district’s first Syrian refugee family could be arriving soon. Harborough District Council wants to work with private landlords to offer a new home to Syrian Refugees. The refugee family would come to Harborough as part of the government’s Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Relocation Scheme, which aims to resettle 20,000 Syrian people across the UK, as accommodation becomes available. In a statement the council said: “If you are a private landlord and are able to support this scheme by letting a three or four bed property at, or below, local housing allowance rates to this family for two years or more please contact Harborough District Council.” Potential landlords should email the council at [email protected] As reported in the Mail in March, Harborough District Council has been urged to do more for refugee families, after falling behind in its aim to find one home a year for Syrian refugees in the district. The call came from Paula Alexander of the Market Harborough Helping Refugees organisation. Paula told the Mail she was “very concerned to hear that Harborough District Council has reneged on its decision to house just one refugee family by March”. In May last year, the council committed to making one property within the Harborough district available each year over the next five years to home Syrian refugees. The first family was supposed to arrive last month. But Harborough’s Cllr Rosita Page, portfolio holder for housing, said: “Unfortunately, the council was unable to accommodate any of the families arriving in March 2017. This was mainly due to the fact that no suitable and affordable properties in the private sector were available.”

Source: harboroughmail.co.uk