International Recruitment: Finding a Home

Finding a Home

Helping your new recruit find a home is the most important part of ensuring they settle well in the UK and is the greatest challenge for employers.  You should start to plan your housing provision alongside your recruitment process and make sure their accommodation is secured and ready for them when they arrive.  This includes meeting them at the airport and escorting them to their new home and ensuring any processes with landlords are dealt with.

It is good practice to provide your new worker with at least their first months’ accommodation free of charge.  You should also meet the cost of any rent deposit and in order to obtain rented accommodation immediately you may need to come to an arrangement with the agency or landlord to act as a rent guarantor.  You may wish to provide free accommodation for longer.  You would need to decide whether you reclaim any accommodation costs at some point in the person’s employment.  

It is important to find out from your new recruit what matters to them about their initial accommodation.  Are they arriving alone or with their family? Do they expect their family to join them later? 

One option is to provide initial short-term accommodation during which time the recruit can find their feet, understand their local area and then decide where they want to live and be supported to find their permanent accommodation.  If you take this route, then you should encourage your new worker to start looking immediately when they arrive for longer term accommodation. 

The other option is to provide longer-term accommodation from the beginning with an initial free period.  

The decision which routes to take will depend on local housing availability and the needs of your worker and their circumstances.  

The current cost-of-living crisis has led to a shortage of affordable rental properties. Landlords are reporting to the National Association of Residential Landlords unprecedented demand for almost all types of property, and the South Coast/Solent areas are experiencing significant undersupply, if reports are accurate.  

Rental costs in areas such as Winchester are very high.  There is a very short supply of rental properties on the Isle of Wight. 

Staff Spare Rooms


If you have a number of staff, you could ask them if they can offer a spare room in their home. Those who can help may be eligible for the government’s rent-a-room scheme, which lets people earn up to £7,500 per year tax free from letting out furnished accommodation in their home.  Further information on this can be found here  https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home

Refugees at Home is a charity which connects those with a spare room in their home to refugees and asylum seekers in need of somewhere to stay.  They may be able to arrange for short-term, temporary accommodation with one of their volunteer hosts if your worker has refugee status, is actively engaged in the asylum process or is hoping to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.  More details can be found here. https://refugeesathome.org/

Local Hosts


Various online sites provide home stay solutions. Home stay connects host families with people looking for accommodation. Living with a host family may help your new recruits to settle more quickly into life, make friends and get to know the local community. Some sites offer short and long term stays and meals. If you decide to take this option, consider matching your new recruit with a home stay host to ensure success. You should also check out the home to make sure it’s of a good standard, clean, in an area close to public transport or has parking.

https://www.homestay.com/

https://www.hosts-international.com/homestays/

https://homestayfinder.com/SearchHost.aspx?country=UK&region=EN

Other options include longer term lets with companies like Airbnb

Homeshare


Through Homeshare someone who would benefit from having someone live with them (perhaps they are a single older person, or a person with a medical condition) shares their property with an international care worker who agrees to provide some support and companionship and they are ‘matched’ by the Homeshare organisation.

No personal care is provided and the level of support/companionship can vary. This option is usually only suitable as a longer-term solution for single people rather than couples or families. You would need to consider the work/life balance you would want for your worker if they were also offering support to a person in their personal life.

https://www.shareandcare.co.uk/

https://homeshareassociation.org/current-opportunites

Similarly, A Helpful Housemate offers lodgings to those who are happy to offer a few hours of support to a Host in exchange for paying lower-than-market rent. The international care worker would agree to check in with their Host from time-to-time, offering a little light help when needed.

https://helpfulhousemates.co.uk/

Using your own accommodation


Some employers with more available resources buy accommodation to house their workers rent free for the first few months whilst they find more permanent accommodation. This may be an option for you if you intend to recruit international workers long term and in larger numbers. 

Using a room in your care/nursing home


If you run a residential care home, then changing the use of one room to provide free short-term accommodation may be an option for you to consider.


Rented Accommodation


Another option by employers is to rent an HMO from a private landlord and sublet the rooms free of charge for the first month or longer.  There are many local letting agents contact details available via search engines.   Under such an arrangement you would need to provide reassurances about the condition and upkeep of the property since the landlord will give up any control over the tenant selection process. You will need to consider that you will still be responsible for the rent if rooms are empty and may be responsible for repairs, damage and cleaning of communal areas.

Be aware that many local authorities also procure private rented accommodation on that basis.  Similarly, lots of this type of accommodation has been procured by government supported schemes and departments to house refugees, care-leavers, those leaving other institutions, as well as to help discharge their homelessness duties.  

The advantage of this solution is that it enables you to find a property in a good location for your new recruits, to a good standard, close to transport or with parking.  It also enables people new to the UK to live with others in the same circumstances.  

The majority of privately owned HMOs can be found on sites like: 

www.rightmove.co.uk

www.primelocation.com

www.openrent.co.uk

In the current climate good rental properties will go very quickly.  You should consider registering your requirements with letting agents in advance and be prepared to view a property very quickly.

You may need to make arrangements with landlords directly rather than go through letting agents. In Portsmouth you could contact the Portsmouth and District Landlords Association.

https://pdpla.com/

The other option is to attend a local meeting organised by the National Residential Landlord’s Association to meet landlords and businesses that might be able to assist and their events page can be found here:

https://www.nrla.org.uk/events/meetings

You could also contact the NRLA’s local representative for up-to-date advice:

https://www.nrla.org.uk/events/reps-liz

A Room in Shared Accommodation


In terms of longer-term accommodation and the worker moving on, housing options may be restricted by their salary.  If a worker is paid the minimum salary required for their visa, then this might restrict their options to a room in a shared house.  Many letting agents impose ratios of rental value to salary of around 30% – 33%.  Each letting agent will determine their own multiplier.  A Care Worker on the current minimum for a visa of £20960 would only qualify for a rental cost of £635 a month with a ratio of 33%.   

Many employers source their initial accommodation for their worker in a furnished shared house, paying at least the first month’s rent, deposit and acting as a guarantor, with a full welcome pack. Your worker may feel home sick and living in shared accommodation is more affordable and may provide with them with a ready-made community to help them settle.  

Click the link below for a link to a guide for all international care workers who are looking for rental accommodation. 

https://royaldevon.nhs.uk/media/hbaow0ge/nhs-step-by-step-rental-guide.pdf