Payman, a 32-year-old Iranian, came to the UK on a small boat after he was persecuted in Iran for converting to Christianity and holding perceived anti-regime beliefs. He spent months in a west London asylum hotel before gaining refugee status and being given 28 days to leave the hotel. “Friends helped me find an HMO run by a private company. They keep Iranians together, which makes it safer. A friend was placed with an alcoholic who brought home rubbish bags every day,” he says.