Progress on ending asylum hotels to be announced ‘within weeks’ – minister

Progress on ending the use of hotels for asylum accommodation will be announced “within weeks”, the Housing Secretary has said.

Steve Reed said the Government was looking at “modular” forms of building to ensure sites could go up quickly, and use big sites such as military bases to end the use of hotels “entirely”.

It comes as a committee of MPs report published on Monday said that billions of pounds had been “squandered” on asylum accommodation by Home Office mismanagement.

The Home Affairs Committee warned ministers must set out a clear strategy of how to reduce the use of asylum hotels and have a chance to end the “current failed, chaotic and expensive” system that has wasted taxpayers’ money.

The Government has promised to end the housing of asylum seekers in hotels by 2029 amid mounting pressure over rising costs and a backlash in local communities.

Mr Reed told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You can use modular forms of building.

“That means it can go up much faster than would normally be the case, and there are planning processes that we can use in these circumstances to make sure that the planning system itself isn’t delayed.

“I’m expecting announcements to come on that within weeks, so we just have to wait and see.”

In its report, the Home Affairs Committee warned a promise to appeal to popular opinion without a clear plan for alternative accommodation risks “under-delivery and consequently undermining public trust still further”.

Mr Reed added: “We want to get it right, but the intention is to get those former military bases is one example of it, where we could use big sites and get people on there and end the use of hotels entirely.

“That’s where we want to get to.”

MPs said the Home Office has failed to share a long-term strategy for asylum seeker accommodation and repeatedly cut corners in its “chaotic” response to the pressures.

Expected costs of Home Office accommodation contracts for 2019-2029 have since tripled from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion, after a “dramatic increase” in demand following the pandemic and rising numbers of those arriving by small boat among the factors.

The report said: “The Home Office has undoubtedly been operating in an extremely challenging environment but its chaotic response has demonstrated that it has not been up to the challenge.

“The 2026 break clause and end of the contracts in 2029 represent opportunities to draw a line under the current failed, chaotic and expensive system and move to a model that is more effective and offers value for money.”

Mr Reed told Sky News the contracts were inherited from the previous government and that the use of hotels will be eliminated “within the lifetime” of the Labour Government.

He said: “We have inherited them, but we’ve put in place already additional case workers to deal with the number of asylum seekers.

“We can get them through more quickly – the number of hotels in use is now half what it was at the peak.

“We need to eliminate it entirely and we’ll do that within the lifetime of this Government, but we want to do it as quickly as possible.”

Elsewhere, the Cabinet minister also said a migrant who re-entered Britain after being sent back to France as part of the Government’s “one in, one out” deal will be deported this week.

The man was detained after entering the UK a second time on October 18, a month after he was returned to France, and has claimed to be a victim of modern slavery.

Mr Reed said the arrest of the man who crossed back to the UK in a small boat after being sent back to France “shows the system is working”.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme on Monday, Mr Reed said: “The individual was removed from the country, paid a people smuggler to get him back in again, was apprehended, and now will be deported.

“That’s what will keep happening to people who try to get back in. It shows the system is working.

“That individual has basically wasted their money but it shows that we’re apprehending people and removing them when they have no right to be here.”

Asked whether this case was a “drop in the ocean”, Mr Reed replied: “Of course, it’s a pilot. The intention is you learn from the pilot, and then you scale it up.

“So there’s a number of things we need to do: end the use of hotels (to house asylum seekers), stop people coming over, process applications faster, and remove those with no right to be here quicker.

“All of that is now being done. But we know it’s not job done yet.”