Nottingham Arimathea Trust is a small housing charity with a clear mission to support destitute asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees Arimathea was born in 2007 when there was an overwhelming need to house asylum seekers whose cases have been refused. We were initially provided with one shared house for destitute Asylum Seekers and fast forward more than a decade later and Arimathea now has 20 properties housing around 70 residents. Green Pastures provides the charity with 9 self contained supported accommodation flats for those with refugee status.
Arimathea Trust has helped many refused asylum seekers to turn their cases around with the Home Office enabling them to achieve refugee status in the UK. We have also increased the number of properties and moved many refugees into independent living. The Arimathea Trust has also supported residents to find volunteering and employment opportunities and helped people to secure family reunions.
Destitute asylum seekers and new refugees often do not get the tailored help they need especially when it comes to accessing quality housing. The Arimathea Trust specialises in working with these groups to ensure their needs are understood - we do this by using interpreters when needed, taking clients to appointments and making sure they access English classes. We believe that no one should experience destitution and are doing our best to alleviate this.
Our future plans are to increase our housing stock and ideally open another shared house to provide shelter to more destitute Asylum Seekers and refugees. We are also hoping to partner with Green Pastures to secure another property for female asylum seekers/refugees, something which is really needed.