Thursday briefing: What happens after an asylum hotel closes?
Good morning. This week, immigration minister Anna Turley announced, with minor fanfare, the government will stop using a further 13 hotels to house asylum seekers across the country.
It brings the total shut this year to 44, in pursuit of Labour’s manifesto pledge, now reiterated by Andy Burnham, to cease hotel use completely by the end of this parliament. Doing so would remove what have become highly visible symbols of an increasingly toxic debate about migration. Less than 160 to go, according to the Home Office.
There was a risk the announcement might be drowned out by howls of rightwing outrage after the prime minister dared suggest that middle-class areas also ought to house asylum seekers. “We cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers,” Burnham said. “I do believe all parts of the country need to play their part.”
(In England, asylum seekers made up 0.29% of people in the most deprived local authorities, compared with 0.05% of people in the least deprived.)
But what becomes of residents, protesters and communities after these hotels are emptied? I spoke to specialist reporter Diane Taylor, who has followed shifts in immigration policy and the individuals who must live through them for decades. First, the headlines.
Five big stories
Solar eclipse | Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north, going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out.
UK news | Nurses are collapsing during shifts amid “inhumane and impossible” conditions caused by extreme heat, their union has warned, as Andy Burnham promised to grapple with “the bigger questions” of climate adaptation.
US politics | Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of August, Donald Trump announced.
Science | Astronomers claim to have discovered a new kind of cosmic object, a black hole “star”, which is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light.
Middle East | Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror.
In depth: ‘You can’t just magic away the intense protest and counter-protest and division’
Hotels were used as an occasional, temporary housing fix for asylum seekers pre-Covid, but became the default option in place of flats at the very start of the pandemic. The home office justification was public health – but I spoke to hotel residents back in 2020 who told me about cramped living conditions, limited access to food, drink and financial support, alongside spiralling mental distress.
I still remember running through Glasgow city centre in June 2020 to reach the scene of a mass stabbing, and how my stomach dropped when I realised I was heading to a hotel housing asylum seekers. Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh, a Sudanese man, had stabbed six people including a police officer at the Park Inn hotel before being shot dead by police. An inquiry into his death is ongoing.
To be clear: politicians across parties, support agencies and the far-right all agree that these hotels need to shut, though for different reasons. For the past six years – counter to the far-right “life-of-luxury” narrative – Diane has reported on life inside these hotels: rat infestations and food so abysmal it causes nutritional deficiencies. She has also exposed the vast profit made by private accommodation providers thanks to Home Office cash, such as Clearsprings, equating to £146 a minute over five years – yes, you read that right.
What happens when a hotel closes?
When a hotel closes, asylum seekers are moved – often at short notice – to houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs), former military barracks or other, usually more basic, hotels.People may have been living in the same hotel for years, and the new accommodation may be several hundred miles away, forcing people to re-build their lives – language classes, legal support, friendships – from scratch.
Two barracks – Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex – are now full, with planning permission being sought to turn three more into accommodation for asylum seekers: RAF Linton-on-Ouse, RAF Barnham and Bicester Garrison. Residents in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, close to Bicester, will – in an eccentric move – hold a referendum on seceding from the UK, in protest against plans to house more than a thousand male asylum seekers in the disused army barracks.
The government estimates these new sites could eventually house about 3,750 people. According to the National Audit Office, barracks are not necessarily cheaper to fund than hotels, because of hefty set-up costs. The current estimated hotel cost per night is £144, compared with dispersal accommodation such as HMOs estimated at £23.25 per night. Although cheaper than hotels and barracks, there simply aren’t enough to meet demand; however Diane suggests “you also don’t get the same punishment optics with a rundown terrace in East Ham”.
Some have found the transition gruelling. Huda is a 41-year-old engineering graduate who fled death threats in Tunisia with her two daughters, one of whom has serious health conditions. When their London hotel closed last month, the family were moved to another hotel that Diane describes as “extremely basic”.
There are no facilities for Huda to cook for her children, and limited storage for essential medicines and equipment. When I asked Huda, via Diane, about this new accommodation, she described mashing up food with her hands so that her daughter can swallow it. Her daughter’s seizures have intensified since the move, she sleeps on the floor and Huda is painfully blunt: “My daughter is dying slowly.”
Closures, protests and transformation
Where asylum seekers go, far-right protesters often follow. Crowds of several hundred continue to throng at Crowborough every Sunday, and HMOs are now a growing target.
Last Sunday in Kent, men in T-shirts bearing the logo “Christ is king” chanted “don’t unpack, you’re going back” outside an accommodation block in Broadstairs, rumoured to be earmarked for asylum seekers. And last week, over several nights of unrest in the Norfolk town of Thetford, crowds attempted to storm other suspected HMOs. Fifteen people were arrested.
It’s worth noting that not every hotel has become a flashpoint. “It’s a mixed picture,” says Diane. “There are four asylum hotels near me, in a fairly middle-class area of London. Local residents and asylum seekers have lived together in a very low-key way, and I’ve never seen the slightest bit of trouble.
“In the media, we always write about the extreme examples, understandably, but we don’t write about the hotels with zero problems.”
The government claimed yesterday that closing hotels would have a transformative effect on local communities: “These hotels can once again attract visitors, support local jobs and drive footfall to nearby cafes, shops, restaurants and attractions, helping town centres and local economies thrive”.
I put this to our resident Essex specialist Tim Burrows, who meticulously reported on a year of protests outside the Bell hotel in Epping.
The Bell remains boarded up behind security fencing, with no apparent plans for reopening, and the effect on the community is clear: “While the closure of the Bell hotel has been welcomed by many in Epping, you can’t just magic away the past year or more of intense protest and counter-protest and the division that has caused.” The hotel, Tim says, “will long symbolise to one side of Epping ‘invader’ asylum seekers they blame for many of the UK’s problems, and to the other the concerning rise of far-right ethno-nationalist politics.”
Where should asylum seekers be housed?
The recent targeting of HMOs suggests that, as Diane tells me, where asylum seekers are housed is “almost irrelevant”. “There are people who don’t want asylum seekers here. If we put them in the sewers they would protest.”
After Burnham’s comments about the distribution of asylum accommodation, Diane reminds me that there has been a fairly successful push to disperse people more widely in recent years “but, as the data shows, distribution is still not entirely equal”. It’s also the case that housing is more expensive to provide in middle-class areas.
The government might also try changing the conversation to one that extends beyond houses, barracks and hotels to the people inside them. “Would it not be easier,” Diane says, “to ‘rebrand’ asylum seekers away from the scrounger, rapist stereotype into people who are grateful to be here and want to contribute any way they can – by doing work for the British community while claims are being processed.”
Diane has written about some of the ad hoc volunteering initiatives already happening thanks to NGOs, but argues that having government in charge of them would mean wider and more efficient rollout.
Better yet, says Diane: “Pay minimum wage for keeping streets clean, planting civic flowerbeds, growing free food for the whole area by tending community allotments. Deduct part of that to pay for accommodation. It would cut the cost to the taxpayer and boost integration.”
after newsletter promotion
What else we’ve been enjoying
I spoke to Nesrine Malik about the Jason Arday story for First Edition last week. Her wider reflections in The Long Wave are as insightful as you’d expect. (And sign up here to read more from her.) Michael
I felt utterly uplifted reading Natasha Walter’s considered, hopeful and very urgent challenge to feminists everywhere to reunite from the grassroots up. Libby
After reading Peter Bradshaw’s review of the new Amy Goodman documentary, Steal This Story, Please!, I’ve booked a screening ticket. Michael
It’s not only because we share a moniker that I’m enjoying Stephen Libby’s new fashion column. Here he writes about the sustainable joys of using your local dry cleaner to tailor vintage finds. Libby
This exclusive by Sandra Laville is jaw-dropping given the temperatures, drought and fires we’re experiencing: just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff are working on climate adaptation. Terrifying. Michael
Sport
Uefa Super Cup | After Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener was cancelled out by the teenage striker Brian Madjo, Désiré Doué curled in a second-half winner to give PSG a 2-1 victory against Aston Villa in Salzburg.
European Athletics Championship | British runner Matt Hudson-Smith stormed to a historic third gold in the European Championship 400m to delight the home supporters in Birmingham.
Cricket | Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew for his England Test side, telling his players to “be adults” after a string of late-night incidents.
The front pages
“PM vows to tackle climate as nurses warn of heat toll”, is the Guardian’s front page today.
The Telegraph has “Burnham prepared to spend more on housing asylum seekers”, the Times runs with “Firms’ fury at zero hours reform”, the Mail says “Rewilding link to record fires”, and the Express writes “Using stairs may cut risk of early death”. The FT’s headline is “Ukraine ceases strikes on oil tankers using Russian port after Vance request”.
On the eclipse, the Sun writes in its masthead font “The Moon”, the i Paper splashes “Once in a generation”, and Metro says “Here’s blot all the fuss was about”.
Today in Focus
The 21 million women and girls the world forgot
Five years after the Taliban retook power, women inside the country explain how they have been silenced, while the Afghan journalist Zahra Joya asks why the world has looked away.
Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Ioan Marc Jones has always hated running – he found it painful, boring and monotonous. But, an old football injury forced him to take up the sport properly.
After conventional running advice failed, he turned to more unconventional tips from seasoned runners, including taking a shot of pickle juice, wearing nipple tape and listening to Hamlet. For the first time, Jones managed to run consistently for more than a month and discovered his own “running personality”. He may not love running yet, but he is enjoying the journey and, more importantly, starting to see himself as a runner.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.
