theguardian - 7 days ago

Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s comments about getting mad ‘when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people’ were ‘shocking racism’, says prime ministerThe Guardian would like to hear from parents who have had to live in temporary accommodation with children. There is more about the call-out here, including a form where you can submit a response.But the Commons home affairs committee’s report is also critical of some aspects of what the Home Office has been doing on asylum hotels since Labour took power. Here are some of the points it makes about Labour’s record on this issue.The committee expresses concerns about the government’s plan to move asylum seekers out of hotels and place them in “large sites” instead, such as former military bases. (See 9.23am.) It says:The [Home Office] is considering the use of large sites in its approach to asylum accommodation, having previously said it would move away from their use. In principle, large sites can provide suitable temporary accommodation. However, they have generally proved more costly to deliver than hotel accommodation and will not enable the department to drive down costs in the same way as expanding dispersal accommodation. If the department chooses to pursue large sites, it needs to fully understand and accept this trade off. It must learn the lessons from its previous mistakes in rushing to deliver short-term solutions that later unravel.It says the government has still not set out a “clear strategy” for asylum accommodation.The government has committed to reducing the cost of the asylum system and ending the use of hotels by 2029. This is a stated Government priority, but making promises to appeal to popular sentiment without setting out a clear and fully articulated plan for securing alternative accommodation risks under-delivery and consequently undermining public trust still further. The Home Office has failed to share a clear strategy for the long-term delivery of asylum accommodation.It says the number of asylum seekers in hotels went up during Labour’s first 12 months in office. It says:The number of asylum seekers in hotels is currently significantly lower than during the peak of hotel use—32,059 people as of June 2025, compared to 56,042 in September 2023—although the number of asylum seekers accommodated in hotels was 8% higher in June 2025 compared to June 2024.It says it is “extremely disappointing” that the Home Office abandoned a pilot programme giving refugees 56 days to find alternative accommodation if they have to leave Home Office housing (like a hotel) because their asylum application has been accepted. The Home Office has reverted to 28 days’ notice, even though the 56 days’s notice system was said to reduce the number or refugees finding themselves homeless. It says:Given the high level of support we received for the 56 day move on period in the evidence we received, this decision is extremely disappointing. Continue reading...

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