Our Story

Our journey started through the participation of a number of our Trustees in the UK Government's Community Sponsorship Scheme for Refugee resettlement. Community sponsorship is a UK government scheme that allows local community groups, such as charities, faith groups, or volunteer organizations, to directly sponsor the resettlement of refugee families.

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Under this programme, community sponsors take on the responsibility of helping refugees settle into life in the UK, including finding suitable housing, assisting with English language learning, helping children enrol in school, and supporting access to healthcare and employment.

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Edinburgh Refugee Sponsorship Circle (ERSC) was established in 2020 by a group of friends in Edinburgh; some with personal experience of being forced to flee Syria, and others who had volunteered with and had become friends with refugees who had spent their lifetime savings being exploited by smugglers to make perilous journeys to Europe.

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We knew that Edinburgh was a beautiful city with welcoming communities that had both the ability and the responsibility to help resettle refugees and support them in building new lives.

In 2021 ERSC was the second group in Edinburgh, and in Scotland, to welcome a family through community sponsorship. So far, the charity has resettled 3 vulnerable family units, with flights and accommodation arranged for a new arrival to be relocated to Edinburgh in September and a further resettlement planned for spring 2026.

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Due to the private structure of Community Sponsorship, Edinburgh City Council (alongside other local authorities in the UK) made the decision in 2022 that families resettled through Community Sponsorship can not be prioritised for social housing, unlike families resettled via other UK government quotas and routes. This is partially due to the fact that Edinburgh is currently facing a housing emergency, with rising rents, long waiting lists, and a severe shortage of affordable homes

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With this challenge in mind, a group of volunteers and trustees from ERSC have teamed up with community housing experts to set up a separate organisation, Edinburgh Community Sponsorship Housing, dedicated to providing affordable housing for refugees who are resettled to Edinburgh via community sponsorship.