Overview
- Around 200 councils have registered interest in a pilot to fund new-build or refurbished homes tied to asylum accommodation, including Brighton and Hove, Hackney, Peterborough, Thanet and Powys.
- Labour MPs such as Graham Stringer and Jonathan Brash are urging a U-turn, warning constituents already face long waits for social housing and would see the policy as unfair.
- A government spokesman says new council homes will not be used by asylum seekers, with plans to shut all asylum hotels and expand use of former military sites instead.
- Operational moves are under way, with 27 men transferred last month to the Crowborough military site in East Sussex, where up to 500 could be housed, drawing neighbor objections and potential legal action from Wealden District Council.
- Latest figures cited in coverage report roughly 36,000 asylum seekers in hotels and about 71,000 in dispersal accommodation, while around 1.3 million families are on social housing waiting lists, a pressure critics say the pilot risks aggravating.