Landlords urged to take in Afghan refugees

Priti Patel has called on landlords to help house the thousands of Afghan refugees who are still living in hotels more than a year after the evacuation of Kabul.

Home Office figures revealed last week that there were 9,667 Afghans living in 66 hotels at a cost of £1 million per day to the taxpayer.

Only 7,385 of the 21,450 people who were evacuated to the UK following Britain’s evacuation effort last August have been found permanent homes.

The Home Office has said that it and local authorities had found it challenging to find permanent homes because Afghan families were typically large in number. The average size of an Afghan household given sanctuary in the UK is about seven people whereas the average family size in Britain is just three.

Councils are given £20,500 for each refugee they resettle in their area but not enough homes have become available. The government has set up a housing portal that allows property owners and organisations to submit offers of housing for Afghans, but not enough have come forward to date.

Writing in The Times, the home secretary urges landlords to do their bit to help by offering properties suitable for Afghans.

Patel writes: “I urge landlords and local authorities to come forward with suitable homes. The government will continue to do everything possible to expedite moving those still in hotels into sustainable accommodation, while delivering value for money for the taxpayer.”

Patel is preparing measures that will stop local authorities from blocking the Home Office’s attempts to move asylum seekers to their area. In addition to Afghan refugees, there are about 30,000 asylum seekers living in hotels, adding a further £4 million per day. The cost contributes to the total asylum bill, which exceeds £2 billion.

The government has promised to relocate a further 3,500 Afghans who are trying to flee the Taliban, but refugee charities have been calling for the UK to significantly increase this commitment because of the huge numbers who have fled the Taliban.

Afghans now make up about a fifth of all the migrants who cross the Channel in small boats, with more than 2,000 crossing in the first six months of the year.

The treatment of Afghans resettled to the UK contrasts with that of Ukrainians, with about 25,000 households already accommodating 83,900 Ukrainian refugees.

Campaigners have called on the government to introduce a similar “Homes for Afghans” scheme but ministers have yet to commit to it, arguing that the circumstances for Afghans are very different to Ukrainians.