Home Office to announce closure of 11 asylum hotels in next week

Exclusive: closures are part of pledge by Labour to end all use of hotels for asylum seekers by end of this parliament The Home Office is to announce the closure of 11 asylum hotels this week as part of its pledge to close all such facilities by the end of this parliament. The use of hotels to house asylum seekers has been controversial since it became widespread at the start of the Covid pandemic. Anti-migrant protesters have staged demonstrations outside hotels, claiming asylum seekers are living a life of luxury there. There are almost 200 hotels in use, according to the government, accommodating 30,000 asylum seekers. Other asylum seekers – more than 70,000 people – live in other types of accommodation such as shared housing or military barracks. Some of the protests turned violent, such as in Rotherham in August 2024 when protesters tried to set fire to a hotel with asylum seekers in it. Refugee NGOs say hotels are unsuitable for long-term accommodation, and a parliamentary investigation found the government had squandered billions on a “failed, chaotic and expensive system”. In evidence to the investigation, the Red Cross said it had to take £220,000 from its disaster fund to