The Home Office has told around 400 asylum seekers to leave a London hotel with a week’s notice, sparking fears of a ‘devastating impact’ on the vulnerable residents.
Asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their claim, living in a hotel in Walthamstow, were told they were being moved to alternative housing on Thursday (18 January.) One resident is being moved as far as Somerset, reported the Waltham Forest Echo.
Waltham Forest Council said it was not given notice of this decision – and that the government had broken a promise to manage hotel closures in a staggered manner.
“This decision runs contrary to the government’s policies saying that it will manage hotel closures in a phased way to ensure that people seeking asylum are dispersed to suitable accommodation. These actions will have a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable in our community, including families with children and adults with acute medical needs,” said Grace Williams, leader of Waltham Forest Council.
Rishi Sunak has boasted of hotel closures being a success of the government’s immigration policies. But the rush to clear the legacy asylum backlog and close hotels has led to an explosion in refugee homelessness, as The Big Issue has reported since the Autumn.
Although Waltham Forest Council had previously raised concerns over the safety of residents in the hotels, Williams said there were fears residents were simply being moved on to other unsuitable accommodation.