Leaked British government documents reportedly revealed that more than nine in ten local councils in England will be housing alleged asylum seekers by the end of the year.
Internal estimates from the Home Office — the UK government department tasked with controlling immigration — have predicted that 92 per cent of authorities in England will be housing asylum-seeking migrants by the end of 2025, up from the current rate of 82 per cent, the Sunday Express reported.
It is set to come as the Labour government will attempt to transition away from the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, a scheme which was developed under the previous Conservative government during the Chinese coronavirus and which currently is accommodating over 32,000 migrants.
The programme has become increasingly unpopular following a raft of sexual assaults committed against local women and girls by hotel migrants, such as the attack on a 14-year-old girl in Epping over the summer by a 41-year-old Ethiopian illegal put up in the Bell Hotel at taxpayer expense.
Part of the plan to reduce reliance on hotels will be to use so-called ‘dispersal’ accommodations, or in other words, private homes rented by the government through contractors on a multi-year basis.
Such arrangements are considerably cheaper than using hotels; however, it is unclear if spreading often young male illegals more broadly throughout British communities will alleviate concerns of locals about the safety of women and girls.
According to the Express, the government currently has enough space to house 46,640 alleged asylum seekers in dispersal accommodations, but will be seeking to obtain room for an additional 66,000 in apartments, bedsits, and homes across the country.
Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly remarked: “Labour promised to end the illegal migration crisis. Instead, nearly every council is being forced to host asylum seekers. That means more young unemployed men housed at taxpayers’ expense in communities across the country.
“What’s more, this all means greater pressures on social housing at a time when many British nationals are struggling to find affordable accommodation.”
The government is also set to convert former military bases and properties to house migrants, despite the Labour Party frequently criticising the former Tory government for similar schemes over the supposedly poor conditions experienced by migrants.
Indeed, in 2023, Labour’s then Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said that using military bases or barges would be “the last thing we would want to be doing because we believe that people who are applying for asylum should be in appropriate accommodation.”
The party’s calculus has apparently changed, however, with tens of thousands of more illegals entering the country via the English Channel since Labour came to power. Two sites are currently under consideration, including one in Inverness and another in East Sussex, which combined could house around 900 migrants.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard told the BBC on Tuesday that while the planned sites will not be “luxury accommodation by any means,” but said that they will be “adequate for what is required”.
“That will enable us to take the pressure off the asylum hotel estate and enable those to be closed at a faster rate,” he said.
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