Asylum seekers refusing to go away lodges threat homelessness

Single grownup male asylum seekers who refuse to maneuver out of lodges into “appropriate different lodging” will threat turning into homeless, the Residence Workplace has mentioned.

The federal government – which is legally obligated to accommodate destitute asylum seekers – says its new “Failure to Journey” steering would set up “clear penalties for individuals who recreation the system”.

In response to Residence Workplace sources, lots of of migrants are refusing to be transferred from lodges to different types of lodging each week.

It comes as the federal government is coming underneath strain to scale back the variety of lodges getting used for asylum lodging.

The previous week has seen a collection of demonstrations in Epping near a lodge housing asylum seekers.

Ministers have mentioned the federal government desires to finish using lodges for housing asylum seekers by 2029 and has been attempting to maneuver folks into cheaper sorts of lodging.

The numbers in lodges had been rising since 2020, and reached a peak of greater than 50,000 in 2023. In March 2025, the asylum lodge inhabitants stood at 32,345.

New steering issued on Friday to Residence Workplace caseworkers and asylum lodging suppliers acknowledged that some asylum seekers’ “failure to journey to acceptable lodging” was undermining “the general effectivity of the asylum assist system”.

Underneath the foundations, people being moved from lodges could be given at the least 5 days’ discover in writing.

Individuals who persistently fail to maneuver could be evicted from their lodging and will see their monetary assist withdrawn.

Typically, asylum seekers aren’t allowed to work whereas they’re ready for the federal government to course of their software to remain within the UK.

To assist with prices for meals, clothes and toiletries, they’re normally given round £49.18 per week per individual.

The earlier Conservative authorities took an analogous method when it threatened to remove assist from those that refused to board the Bibby Stockholm, a barge that had been used for lodging.

Minister for Border Safety and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, mentioned the steering was “one other instance of this authorities’s motion to remodel the asylum lodging system and crack down on those that abuse our system, so it operates pretty and saves the taxpayer cash”.

Liberal Democrat Residence Affairs Spokesperson Lisa Sensible MP mentioned it was “proper that the federal government is taking steps to finish using asylum lodges”.

However she added: “To extra successfully deal with the dimensions of the issue, the federal government ought to be targeted on stopping harmful Channel crossings by way of improved cross-border cooperation and lowering the necessity to pay for asylum lodging altogether by scrapping the ban on asylum seekers working.”