Home Office's proposed asylum housing plans will create "bidding war"

Addressing the Conservative party conference, new home secretary Suella Braverman said the government needs to do more to get people seeking asylum out of hotels, which is costing the British taxpayers millions each day.

Council bosses across the UK are furious at the Home Office for putting asylum seekers in hotels within their local areas without much notice or any consultation.

This happened to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead twice, at the Holiday Inn in Maidenhead and more recently the Manor Hotel in Datchet.

The Manor Hotel, Datchet (Image: Google Maps)

A consultation went around all local authorities to gather thoughts on the Home Office’s proposed plans to ditch putting asylum seekers in hotels, but instead in private-rented homes.

This is in a bid to fix the “broken” asylum system and save the Home Office millions of pounds. The plans would also give local authorities a £3,500-per-bed funding boost.

After raising concerns over the Manor Hotel takeover, council leader Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) said the letter he received back from the Home Office “eludes” the government intends to pursue that venture. No timescale was given on when this could come to fruition.

Cllr Johnson fears this will create a “bidding war” between councils and the Home Office – with the governmental department potentially winning most of the time considering it has a bigger budget and more of a political imperative to have these homes.

READ MORE: Windsor council leader considering legal action against Home Office

Ultimately, this could add pressure on local authorities to find accommodation for their homeless and rough sleepers.

Cllr Johnson said: “I await to see the detail, and we will look in quite hard if we don’t think it is the right solution.

“I’m not really convinced that it is. I know the government needs to find a solution, but I don’t think overloading the private-rented market is the way to do it because it adds huge implications when you start to examine it and it will turn into a bidding war.”

Previously, the council leader said the Royal Borough is considering legal action if the plans go ahead.

READ MORE: Windsor & Maidenhead "doing more than its fair share" to house asylum seekers

When asked for an update, Cllr Johnson said: “We are in internal discussions about options for potential legal action in terms of having more [asylum seekers] imposed upon us because, by our modeling, we have double than what the government thinks we should be in terms of the size of our population, which we don’t think is particularly fair.”

According to Cllr Johnson, the Royal Borough is accommodating 500 asylum seekers, which represent 1.6 per cent of the migrant population (30,000) whereas the borough represents 0.27 per cent of England’s population.

The council leader said this is adding pressure to the local services. The Home Office does provide support packages to local authorities, but Cllr Johnson said this is not enough to mitigate pressure.