(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Rwanda scheme: Asylum seekers won’t get homes that Suella Braverman promised [1] [] Date: 2024-02 Homes that Suella Braverman claimed would house asylum seekers deported to Rwanda have already been sold, openDemocracy can reveal. The then home secretary toured the Bwiza Riverside Estate in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, last year during an official visit aimed at promoting the UK’s controversial asylum deal with the African country. While being shown around the estate, Braverman praised the homes as “really beautiful” and said she liked the decor so much that she wanted to hire the interior designer for her own house. But an undercover openDemocracy reporter posing as an international investor was told by the developers’ sales team that asylum seekers would not be housed there. What do you think? Win a £10 book voucher for sharing your views about openDemocracy. Tell us “The houses are for Rwandans and 50% is already sold. So if you say it’s for refugees, I don’t think so,” said the sales adviser at ADHI-Rwanda. Two separate members of staff at Century Real Estate, which is selling properties in the Bwiza estate, also told openDemocracy’s reporter that the homes were not intended for refugees. “They are selling them for people who want to own them. They are not fully furnished so I don’t know how they could be used for asylum seekers,” one real estate agent said. The other told openDemocracy that, contrary to Braverman’s claims, the estate “was not” on a list of potential properties that could house asylum seekers from the UK. The Rwanda Housing Authority, a government body, says it commissioned ADHI Rwanda to build the Bwiza Riverside Estate in November 2020 and that the project “was designed primarily with first-time homeowners in mind”. The UK government agreed its Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda in April 2022. In June, ADHI said the project would “redefine luxury living” and that it had “already captivated the attention of discerning homebuyers and investors alike”. Real estate agents told openDemocracy that more than half of the 257 housing units have since been sold. Braverman said in March that Rwanda could “resettle many thousands of people” under its agreement with the UK. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/rwanda-scheme-asylum-seekers-bwiza-riverside-estate-suella-braverman/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/