The chairman of a housing association set up to support refugees and migrants in east London has been made an OBE.

Qadeer Kiani, who runs Arhag, has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to migrants and refugees.

For the last five years he has driven the transformation of housing association from a landlord for black and minority ethnic (BME) people to a dynamic enabler of a raft of other services for migrants and refugees in London and nationally.

Accepting the award, Qadeer said: "It is a great honour to be recognised with this award.

"I see this in large part as a recognition of all the hard work by many that has gone into moving Arhag to where we are now."

Arhag chief executive Cedric Boston added: "We are very pleased for Qadeer who is a very worthy recipient of this award.

"He has driven forward our project to become a go-to organisation for migrants and refugees and we will soon open our new centre offering a range of services like, health, employment and legal advice, as well as housing."