Fifty per cent of Afghan refugees being kicked out of Northampton hotels still yet to secure accommodation

Fifty per cent of Afghanistan refugees who are being kicked out of hotels in Northampton are still yet to secure private accommodation.

The Government announced last month that Afghanistan refugees staying in hotels across the country are to be kicked out by the end of August.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) confirmed last month (July) that this will affect 178 Afghan refugees who have been staying in temporary hotel accommodations across the town.

One of the two hotels, which this newspaper has chosen not to name, is now taking bookings again from September 5 onwards. The other hotel is not yet taking new bookings after August.

Councillor David Smith, WNC cabinet member for community safety, engagement and regulatory services, said in a report that the council will continue to support families to secure their own accommodation.

He said: “Since the announcement in Parliament that all bridging accommodation would be closing, the residents have received notice to quit by the end of August. There are currently 178 Afghans across our two bridging hotels.

“We continue to assist families to secure their own accommodation. We now have fulfilled five of our pledged properties, with another two to three underway currently.”

This newspaper has since asked for an update as to where WNC is with securing vulnerable refugees – who left their home country to flee from the Taliban – a secure place to live.

A WNC spokeswoman said: “Since the announcement to close the hotels, we have supported 80 people to move into private accommodation and we are in the process of finding accommodation for around 80 more.

”As it stands, as of August 1, we are confident that we won’t have more than 50 individuals in need of settled accommodation.

”We are currently looking at around 50 individuals who will not have a viable option at the end of the rehousing process and who the council will need to assess a homelessness duty for. Many of these are single men so we are also exploring an additional, bespoke option based on the model of the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme.

“As a council, our pledge is to resettle and support 10 households and we are committed to fulfil that pledge whilst also utilising alternative means to resettle people through partnership working with NNC and other local authorities and utilising LAHF funding and additional homelessness funding.

"This is a fast-moving, dynamic situation and will change over the coming days and weeks. We are working extremely hard alongside partners to ensure that we can find options for everyone currently residing at the hotels.”

There have been a large number of refugees and asylum seekers placed in temporary accommodation across West Northamptonshire in the last couple of years.

A Home Office spokesman previously said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6 million a day.”

Back in December 2022, the council confirmed around 250 Afghan refugees continued to be housed in two hotels in West Northamptonshire, meaning some have been in temporary accommodation for more than a year.