Safeen, who was sleeping rough in Chester, finds a home of his own and turns his life around

Safeen is back in a home of his own after finding himself sleeping rough in a park in Chester.

After fleeing from Kurdistan, Safeen had come to the UK hoping for a safe place to call home.

He had been part of the Asylum Seeker Programme in another part of the country but had to leave after experiencing harassment. Leaving his allocated city meant he lost any entitlement under the programme.

Whilst visiting a friend in Chester, Safeen was offered a job in a fast food shop and some temporary accommodation.

Safeen later lost his job, and that also meant he had to leave the room where he was living. After finding out he wasn’t entitled to interim accommodation, Safeen resorted to sleeping in a local park.

He had been introduced to the Forfutures service through another refugee he had been learning English with.

When he approached Forfutures for help, the team worked with him to apply for the appropriate benefits and found him a place to stay while he worked on a longer-term solution.

The team helped Safeen to fill in an application form for social housing. A local housing association had a suitable flat which was ready to let, and Safeen was offered the home straight away and signed up the following day.

In Kurdistan, Safeen was a fully qualified nurse, with support from partners, New Leaf; he has found a job in social care in a caring capacity. Forfutures will support him to explore ways Safeen may be able to retake nursing qualifications in the UK in the future

“Safeen found himself in a vulnerable situation” said Lee Byrne, Homeless Prevention Manager at Forfutures.

“Everyone deserves a safe and secure home. Visiting us at the information hub meant we could work closely with him to get him off the streets and into a home, where he can now continue to create a new life here in Chester.”