New accommodation for migrants and refugees blessed and opened

Nicolas Barré House in Willenhall has become a haven for migrants and refugees, giving them a place to live and flourish after arriving in the country.

The house is a partnership project between migrant charity Brushstrokes, a community project of Father Hudson’s Care, and the St. John Henry Newman Parish of Walsall and Wolverhampton and came to fruition in December last year.

The doors of a former presbytery house in Willenhall were finally opened then to welcome its first three new residents, all young men who had recently received refugee status in the UK and could finally start their journeys integrating into UK society.

The house was officially blessed by the Archbishop of Birmingham, Rt Rev. Bernard Longley, in a small ceremony on January 16, which was attended by members of the Newman Cluster and Brushstrokes.

Father Craig Fullard, parish priest for the Newman Cluster, said: "A very enjoyable evening was had by all, which included Persian singing and cake after the Archbishop welcomed our new guests and prayed for a blessing upon their new home.

"We later planted a tree to commemorate the occasion and as part of our ‘Live Simply’ Campaign arranged for a tree to planted in the New Forest."

Father Fullard and the Newman Cluster had begun the project in April last year after deciding that the vacant presbytery in Walsall would be best used as a property to support some of the UK’s increasingly vulnerable refugee population.

The parish approached Brushstrokes, a charity organisation based in Sandwell who specialise in advice and support matters for asylum seekers and refugees across the West Midlands, to help set-up, find suitable residents for and to take over the day-to-day running of the house.

Brushstrokes accepted the offer and, with considerable assistance from the volunteers of St. Newman Parish, spent six months fitting the 5-bedroom house to Local Authority standard, furnishing it and agreeing where the residents should come from.

The first three residents had all spent up to two years in asylum accommodation while waiting for their refugee status and once they’d received that status, Father Fullard said they would normally have spent a long time living in often quite squalid temporary accommodation.

He said: "They are responsible for their own rent and living costs and Brushstrokes will spend the next 12-months working with them to understand the responsibilities of living in the UK, integrate with the local community, gain full-time employment and eventually find their own properties.

"They will also be supported by the parish community and specifically by specifically trained ‘befrienders’ from the local church community."

One of the new guests said: “This is such a lovely house and so much nicer than the asylum accommodation I lived in before.

"I will be able to carry on with my volunteer work from here and also look for a job I am qualified to do in IT.

"Thank you to Brushstrokes and the Newman Parish for this wonderful opportunity.”