Action Foundation is an award-winning charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Through our free English language school and supported housing projects we support refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants experiencing isolation in Tyne and Wear and provide opportunities to help them overcome their exclusion.
Keep up to date with the latest Action Foundation news, events, projects and fundraising opportunities by signing up to our newsletter or visiting us on social media.
Action Letting
Action Letting provides supported accommodation to newly granted single adult refugees at risk of homelessness during their rapid transition to mainstream housing. We currently manage 15 properties in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland on behalf of private landlords.
Find out more about Action Letting.
Action Housing
Action Housing provides supported accommodation to destitute asylum seekers with no recourse to public funds. Due to their immigration status this extremely vulnerable group are unable to work or receive any government support and are therefore entirely reliant on the help of charities or friends to survive.
Find out more about Action Housing
Action Access
Action Access offers a community-based alternative to clients who have been refused asylum and are currently held in detention. The project has been designed in partnership with the UNHCR and the Home Office.
Find out more about Action Access.
Action Hosting
Action Hosting matches volunteers offering a spare room in their home with a destitute asylum seeker to provide short-term accommodation. All hosts are fully trained and the thorough matching process means that placements are positive experiences for both hosts and guests.
For more information about Action Hosting.
Action Language
Action Language provides free English courses in Newcastle and Sunderland city centre. Our aim is to provide ESOL classes to refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants unable to access mainstream classes in a supportive environment.
All our free classes are taught by qualified volunteer teachers.
Find out more about Action Language.
InterAction
InterAction provides a friendly, accessible, interactive and supportive environment to help new and other migrants experiencing loneliness, isolation and feelings of disorientation, to connect with other people and cultures, local places and services.
For more information about InterAction.
In 2019 Action Foundation…
…supported
Helped people from…
90 different countries
News & Events
“I couldn’t think about anything without a roof over my head”
Durnaz* was alone with nowhere to go or family to turn to when she was referred to Action Foundation for support. The Housing team quickly realised how vulnerable she was and got her safely housed in the spare room of one of our fantastic volunteer hosts, as well as assigning her a support worker. Durnaz has written about the impact this experience has had on her life. “I remember when the Home Office sent me an eviction letter, I felt very distressed and depressed. I had no hope in anything and fear of becoming homeless overcame all my thoughts. I [...]
‘Action Hosting has given me a different life’
Speaking to our Action Hosting guests about what life was like before they got referred into our charity gives you a painful insight into the suffering that asylum seekers go through every day in our community. Ali* talks very openly about how Action Hosting has taken him from being street homeless, to getting support and a roof over his head. *We have used a different name to protect his identity “I feel sick thinking about life before Action Hosting. You have no place, you have no life, you don’t have anything. I went seven months without a place to live, [...]
Say hello to InterAction’s new recruits
After an unprecedented amount of applications, Jonah and Lizzie dazzled the recruitment panel and joined Action Foundation as Drop-in Co-ordinators at InterAction this month. Being quite nosy, we thought we'd find out a bit more about the pair of them... Jonah Mesgarnezhad Tell us a bit about yourself I am originally from Iran. I left Iran in 2009 because of persecution for being a Christian. I have lived in Gateshead since 2013 with my wonderful wife and 2 year old son. In my spare time I enjoy drinking good coffee and making my favourite foods (including making pasta from scratch) [...]
“I got the chance to improve a lot my English language and to meet new people and friends. Thanks to Action Language and ESOL for Work course, I got my job in the UK, I really feel much more confident.”