UK to move asylum seekers into former army barracks as hotel use winds down

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - The British government will move hundreds of asylum seekers to former military sites as it begins phasing out hotels used to house them, officials said Monday.

The Home Office confirmed that two army barracks in Inverness and East Sussex will temporarily accommodate about 900 men as part of a pilot project to test military facilities as alternative housing, according to the British media.

Officials are also identifying additional locations for future use.

The sites were previously used to shelter Afghan families evacuated from Kabul in 2021 before they were resettled elsewhere. That mission concluded earlier this year.

A parliamentary committee on Monday described the government’s reliance on hotels for asylum seekers as “failed, chaotic and expensive.”

According to the Times, the Home Office believes up to 10,000 people could eventually be housed at military or industrial sites, some of which may include prefabricated accommodation.

Defense minister Luke Pollard said the first two sites were being used as a "proof of concept", with discussions about the use of bases for accommodation taking place for several months.

“Some bases are small, some bases are larger in terms of numbers, but I think the conversation around the bases that are in the news today is about proving this concept, is about seeing whether this works. We believe that these bases can provide adequate accommodation for asylum seekers,” he told BBC.

Pollard noted that the facilities would be practical, not comfortable.

“This isn’t luxury accommodation, by any means. But it’s adequate for what is required, and that will enable us to take the pressure off the asylum hotel estates and enable those to be closed at a faster rate,” he said.

As of June, about 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels – down from a peak of more than 56,000 in 2023, but still about 2,500 more than the same period last year.

On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “frustrated and angry,” accusing the former administration of leaving a “huge mess” in the asylum system by failing to process applications efficiently.