The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the Housing Associations' Charitable Trust (hact) have launched the first housing rights website to be specifically aimed at answering housing entitlement queries for new migrants.

Visitors to the site are able to enter as either frontline housing advisers or new arrivals to receive advice and guidance about their housing rights, including the law on eligibility for social housing and related welfare benefits. The site includes sections on the specific housing rights of new migrants who are: refugees, EEA workers and other EEA nationals and family members, A8 nationals, Bulgarians and Romanians, work permit holders, people fleeing domestic violence and people with social care needs. Visitors are also be able to select links to relevant documents and websites, including DWP and the Home Office.

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Arten Llazari, Manager of the Refugee & Migrant Centre based in Wolverhampton, said: "This website is easy to use and extremely timesaving. It will prove an essential tool for all agencies providing housing advice and assistance to refugees and new migrants. Our advisers already have it on their PC favorites list!"

Sarah Walker, a Housing Officer at Staffordshire Housing Association, said: "The website is easy to use and informative. It provides up-to-date, relevant information for housing professionals and people seeking accommodation which hopefully will make the process less confusing for all concerned. It is certainly a website that we will be using on a regular basis."

The site was developed as part of the joint hact/CIH Opening Doors project, which is funded by Communities and Local Government and the Housing Corporation, and is testing practical ways that housing associations can meet the housing needs of refugees, asylum seekers and other newly arrived migrant communities.

(CD/JM)