Government policy to blame for landlords turning to asylum seeker accommodation
9 months ago | 14 comments
Government to buy empty homes to house asylum seekers
9:51 AM, 28th July 2025, 9 months ago
22
The UK government has a strategy to address the growing challenge of housing asylum seekers by acquiring empty homes and repurposing properties through partnerships with local councils, the Daily Telegraph reports.
It says the initiative aims to reduce the dependence on hotels, which have been a contentious and expensive solution for accommodating migrants.
Under the proposed plan, councils across the country will work with the Home Office to purchase or lease vacant homes, former tower blocks, student residences and old teacher training colleges.
These properties will be transformed into ‘medium-sized’ sites to accommodate dozens of asylum seekers.
Government pilot schemes
The newspaper also reports that the government is exploring pilot schemes where councils could receive funding to buy or refurbish properties, which would then be leased back to the Home Office for migrant housing.
Government figures reveal that England has approximately 700,000 empty homes, with significant numbers in major cities like London (93,600), Birmingham (13,162), Leeds (12,334) and Liverpool (10,779).
The plan includes bringing some of these properties back into use, not only for asylum seekers but also for local homeless individuals, creating a dual-purpose housing solution.
Asylum seeker housing bill
Currently, around 32,000 asylum seekers are housed in 210 hotels, a reduction from the peak of 56,000 across 400 hotels in September 2023, which cost taxpayers £9 million daily.
However, the numbers have risen slightly since June last year, when 30,000 migrants were in hotels, just before Labour’s election victory.
To enforce the transition, the Home Office has introduced a ‘firm-but-fair’ policy, warning asylum seekers that they risk losing their taxpayer-funded accommodation and £49.18 weekly allowance if they refuse to relocate from hotels to alternative housing for a second time.
This follows reports of hundreds of migrants resisting transfers weekly, sometimes leaving hotels in use for as few as three occupants.
Identifying homes to use
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week told a government committee: “A central focus of what we are doing is what can be built, arranged or taken by councils and repurposed.
“I am impatient for this change to be driven through.
“We have to take over other accommodation, and we have to drive down the asylum lists.
“There is no alternative… There is lots of housing in many local authorities that can be used, and we are identifying where it can be used.”
Grants for void properties
Joanna Rowland, the Home Office’s director general for customer services, told the committee: “The pilots are looking at various ways to provide accommodation, for example, putting a grant to local authorities and leasing back the property.
“There are elements of: could we give grants to remediate void properties?
“Is there a support-only option, so we are not providing accommodation?
“There are a lot of ideas, but we will need those pilots to give us an evidence base for how we might want to move forward.”
Seize empty properties
Housing and communities Secretary Angela Rayner is also pushing for councils to gain powers to seize properties left vacant for more than six months.
That’s a big reduction from the current two-year threshold, though her department dismissed suggestions that these powers would specifically target asylum housing as ‘pure speculation’.
With a record 24,000 migrants crossing the Channel this year and a backlog of 80,000 initial asylum claims plus 41,000 appeals from failed asylum seekers, the government is under pressure to find sustainable solutions.
The Home Office told the Telegraph that its goal is to ‘develop a more sustainable, long-term model of accommodation supply, which may be more locally led, should reduce competition for affordable housing, and help deliver new supply.’
Tags:
asylum hotels, asylum seekers, council properties, empty homes, government plans, Home Office, labour, Landlords, migrant accommodation, UK asylum policy, UK Housing, vacant properties
Comments
Have Your Say
Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
or
Previous Article
Tenants face becoming 'lifetime renters'Related Articles
Government is expecting more landlords to accommodate asylum seekers
10 months ago | 66 comments
Lords warn government is discriminating against renters with Serco deal for asylum seekers
11 months ago | 7 comments
Member Since May 2022 - Comments: 108
9:57 AM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Well we are leaving, selling off 8 of our properties and spending the money before the claws of the two northern girls(?) get their paws on it!!
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 336
10:08 AM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
The real reasons that councils don’t replace homes that are bought under the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme is that it is just not economically viable to build and maintain council houses.
Regulation, such as Awabs Law makes the Councils liable even when the tenant keeps their windows closed and dries their washing on the radiator. Because tenants deny this and it’s impossible to prove otherwise.
As private landlords we can at least try and pick which tenants we get; the councils can’t.
They will get tenants who destroy their homes and who don’t give a hoot. And one bad tenant will wipe out the profit of 10 good tenants.
Renovating a dilapidated home will cost councils towards £50k to meet the HHSRS, EPC, EICR, EPA, MEES and Decent Homes Standard requirements. And that’s after the cost of buying the house. They will never see a return on that money
Member Since March 2018 - Comments: 182
12:45 PM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Just put the illegal migrants in tents, like they had in Calais. Macron obviously thought they were good enough as he did nothing to rehouse them .
Member Since August 2016 - Comments: 508
1:50 PM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Just as Peter G said, tents on the beach above High Tide and stay there. Especially if they have destroyed their ID etc. That’s what criminals do?
And NO LEGAL AID for chancers.
Member Since September 2021 - Comments: 104
3:19 PM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
I dont blame you for leaving the PRS. Seems LL’s are being forced to leave by the uniparty.
I hear rumours on YouTube that they intend to end the UKP and steal our savings by using new legislation to make bank bail in’s as opposed to bank bail outs. A bank Bail in is when all the savers bank accounts are frozen (over the weekend of course), and the funds (which legally belong to the bank once you deposit it, and you are just another of the banks creditors), are then issued with shares of that failed bank. These being worthless of course means your money has effectively been stolen to bail the failed bank out.
The govenment then intend to issue CBDC’s as a new UK pound. BTW No compensation is offered, because you’ll get shares instead, and as you are legally a share holder with an investment in the bank, that just failed.
It will cause a storm that might force an election, but the uniparty dont worry about that because either Left or Right or Center they ALWAYS get in power.
Member Since June 2025 - Comments: 5
5:17 PM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Frank Jennings at 02/08/2025 – 15:19
The Loony Lefties want LL’s to leave the PRS so they can get their paws on massive amounts of Capital Gains tax! This is the real reason that they are making life for a landlord as difficult as possible. The next manipulation that will happen to speed up the exodus will be mandatory rent caps making it untenable for LL’s to remain
Member Since September 2022 - Comments: 192
6:57 PM, 2nd August 2025, About 8 months ago
All talk from the Government and Angela !
The council will buy empty properties !
Good luck with that
They will then spend thousands of Council payers money on a Refurbishment to bring to modern standards EPC band B of course
Good luck with that !
Then rent out to ” Tenants ” with No Right to Rent !
1.5 million new homes in 5 years
Dream on
Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 204
1:55 PM, 3rd August 2025, About 8 months ago
I bought an ex council house a few years ago and after my offer was accepted it had to be offered back to the council to see if they wanted to buy it and match my offer, obviously, they didn’t want it.
I wish they had bought it as it’s currently my only EPC D property that won’t sensibly make a C. It will be sold before 2030.
On the plus side, it has almost doubled in value (I guess 40% will go go to the government in capital gains tax).
Member Since September 2022 - Comments: 192
3:50 PM, 3rd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Desert Rat at 03/08/2025 – 13:55
Currently it’s 24% but that could change
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3507 - Articles: 5
4:44 PM, 3rd August 2025, About 8 months ago
Where are they planning on buying them from exactly? The open market?
If they buy ready to go they have to be vacant (ironically from PRS LL’s selling perhaps???). If they then plan on renting at social or affordable levels it means they taxpayer picks up a ridiculous subsidy bill….
If they pick up dead ducks at auctions, that means work to be made habitable (even though standards are lower in social provision) – work subsidised again by the taxpayer and then the actual rent too.
I still have a hard time wondering where all these empty properties that they need actually are? I bet all of them have some properties that they already ‘own’ that are sitting empty – this should be their first look…
Liverpool has streets of boarded up terraces, as do Hull, Stafford, Stoke, Durham….
Nothing stopping other councils buying up properties in other council areas as far as I am aware….