ARHAG - African Refugee Housing Action Group - was founded in 1979 as a campaigning organisation for the better treatment of Migrants and Refugees. The aim was to provide a stable, decent and affordable home which would act as the platform for residents to improve their lives, support their families and make a positive contribution to their communities.
Arhag Housing Association Limited (the Association) is a not-for-profit housing association, formally registered with the Housing Corporation in 1989. We are a business with social objectives, which means we invest every penny we make and more in providing good quality homes and services.
We have grown from humble beginnings and now own and manage over 900 homes across 15 boroughs, 14 in London including a hostel in Stratford for people who need support and guidance to build a future in one of our communities. Most of our tenants are nominated by the councils in the local authorities in which we work.
Our principal activity is still to manage, maintain, build, and grow our social housing accommodation stock for both renting and homeownership, but in November 2016 we decided that, whilst a stable and decent home was a good platform, the other needs of migrants and refugees were not being met.
One such unmet need was health where we noticed that for various reasons many migrants and refugees (“M&R”) – particularly those who are undocumented – become isolated from the health service and often do not receive the service they need.
To help address this need and other inequalities, we decided to operate as a “go to” organisation and work in collaboration with partner agencies which provide a range of non-housing services as well as training and support for women suffering gender-based violence.
As part of our commitment to the “go to” agenda, in early July 2019 we moved into The People’s Place in Stratford, which is now our head office and where we are joined by our M&R partner agencies.