Are thousands of asylum seekers about to be kicked out of hotels?

The need to end the use of asylum hotels is seemingly the only thing that all sides of the immigration debate agree on. But it remains to be seen whether this week’s landmark High Court ruling in Epping sees other local authorities force asylum seekers to move out.

The court ruling in Epping has already inspired councils elsewhere to consider challenging the Home Office over asylum hotels in their area.

Government figures released in the days following the court decisions showed 32,059 asylum seekers are being housed in hotels across England as of the end of June.

That’s up 8% on the same point last year but down slightly on statistics from March and the peak of 56,042 back in September 2023.

Those figures could decline further if other local authorities have their way. The temporary injunction in Epping, which will see asylum seekers housed in The Bell Hotel leave by 12 September, has already seen other local authorities report they are considering legal action.

All Reform-led councils, Conservative-run Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and Labour-run councils in Wirral and Tamworth are among the authorities with asylum seeker hotels considering action. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also urged Tory-run councils to challenge.

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To be successful, the councils would have to follow Epping’s lead to prove that the change of use for the hotels was unlawful and that had led to a risk of harm. A final decision on the situation at The Bell Hotel will follow later this year.

But it is more likely that local authorities risk wasting money fighting legal challenges they are unlikely to win, according to Faraz Baber, chief operating officer at planning consultancy at Lanpro. 

Baber said the government needs to act to provide clarity. It has the option to extend the C1 class of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 to cover hotel services or allow permitted development rights for C1 to ‘sue generis’ – meaning they can be used for a wider purpose.

“Both would prevent a wave of unnecessary legal disputes,” said Baber. “The Bell Hotel case shows the ambiguity in planning law – without urgent action the same confusion will spread across the country.

“We must not let politics cloud rational planning. At its heart, this is a planning issue – and planning is about balance and pragmatism.

“Unless the government acts quickly, we risk seeing thousands of vulnerable people caught in limbo – while councils waste resources fighting battles they cannot win.”

Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association, which represents councils across England and Wales, said councils need to be given a bigger say in asylum accommodation decisions whether they can pursue legal action or not.

“It will, of course, be for individual councils to determine what this ruling means for them. We know that asylum and resettlement is linked to wider issues such as housing pressures and community cohesion and that the spread of misinformation remains a concern. Councils are working to help keep communities united during this period,” said Gittins.

“In the meantime, we continue to stress to government that the Home Office must work much more closely with councils regarding asylum accommodation decisions and on improving the current asylum system in the long-term. Councils understand their places and communities best and the Home Office should be drawing on this experience in any locating decisions and through the existing engagement around asylum and resettlement that the LGA facilitates.”

Labour has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.

That’s because they are costly – the use of hotels as asylum accommodation is considered six times more expensive than other accommodation, according to the University of Oxford’s Migrant Observatory – and the accommodation is described as inappropriate.

Campaigners and charities supporting asylum seekers liken hotel accommodation as “prison-like”. It’s far from the fully funded luxury stay described in some quarters with those living in hotel accommodation receiving £8.86 per week from the government.  

But a shortage of suitable accommodation and a growing backlog for asylum decisions in recent years has seen the need for asylum accommodation grow, particularly as asylum seekers wait for decisions on their claims or the result of their appeals.

Government figures released this week showed the asylum claims backlog has fallen below 100,000 people for the first time in four years, now standing at just over 70,000 cases and relating to almost 91,000 people. That’s an 18% fall on levels seen a year earlier.

That represents a measure of success for Labour, but the number of people claiming asylum is at a record-high 110,000 and there is now a backlog for appeals after initial asylum decisions were rejected.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “Bringing the asylum system back from the brink of collapse is a genuine achievement in the government’s first year. The increase in asylum decisions means refugees can begin to rebuild their lives sooner, and the use of costly hotels can be ended faster.  

“However, this good work is being put at risk by poor-quality decisions – right now nearly half of appeals are successful. These mistakes have life-changing consequences for the people we work with, who have fled persecution in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan.”

What is the solution to asylum hotels?

So far, solutions to the usage of hotels as asylum accommodation have been hard to come by aside from Labour’s pledge to reduce net migration and the asylum backlog.

The use of Napier Barracks and the Bibby Stockholm barge proved politically difficult amid fears over cost and safety for asylum seekers.

Increasing the use of dispersal accommodation could see more asylum seekers placed in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) or private rented homes instead. 

Around 17,000 asylum seekers were housed in dispersal accommodation across the country as of December 2024, each receiving £49.18 per week from the government to cover food, clothing and other essentials.

These, too, have proven controversial with asylum seekers being placed in communities with little support to aid integration whipping up tensions. In Durham, the Reform UK-led local council in June said that Mears Group had paused housing asylum seekers in HMOs in the area.

It has since been claimed as a success for Reform. Durham County Council deputy leader and political commentator Darren Grimes said: “Council officers have raised concerns about the suitability of some properties for acquisition and conversion, particularly regarding local infrastructure capacity and service provision.”

Lanpro’s Faraz Baber said that, ultimately, the planning system needs to keep up with the issue.

Labour has already promised a swathe of planning reforms to tackle the housing crisis and boost economic growth.

“Planning law is at the heart of this issue, and it is planning that must provide a rational and balanced way forward,” said Baber. “The debate has become too emotive. We must not allow political anger to obscure the practical reality: asylum seekers must be housed somewhere, and the planning system must be adapted to reflect this need.”

There are some proposed solutions that could help reduce the need for hotels.

The government could soften the stance on asylum seekers being allowed to work while their claim is being processed, allowing them to sustain themselves and reducing the need for government support.

Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank, said the Home Office will need to expand the stock of temporary accommodation, much like councils around England are doing to deal with record-high homelessness.  

“In the long run, it [the Home Office] should move to a decentralised model of accommodation with greater local oversight, in order to help manage some of the tensions with local councils, which have reached a height,” said Morris.

Meanwhile, Soha Housing chief executive Kate Wareing laid out a plan for the government to end the use of hotels last year.

Wareing proposed a capital fund from central government of £1.75 billion to enable the purchase and renovation of 14,000 to 16,000 homes to be let at local housing allowance rates.

The idea would be that this reduces the costs from the asylum system. Wareing said that the average payback period compared to current hotel revenue costs in the asylum system would be just seven months.

Long-term, this housing would then be used to boost social landlords’ stock of general needs housing for long-term rent, available for allocation to the general population.

That just leaves Labour, who have committed to spending £39bn on affordable and social housing over the next decade, to make the political case for spending the cash. 

That’s no easy task in the current political climate with Keir Starmer’s unpopularity reaching a low point in the polls and the threat of wider unrest still on the horizon.

“We do not underestimate the challenges involved in building political and public support for this shift in approach, and indeed for any proposal that seeks to address the housing needs of asylum seekers in the context of a severe national housing crisis,” said Wareing. 

“Yet we are convinced the considerable benefits this proposal offers across a whole range of urgent political priorities will make this possible.”

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