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Nine in 10 councils will be housing ‘asylum seekers’ by December

More than nine in 10 councils will be housing asylum seekers by the end of the year, Home Office documents have revealed.

The number of local authorities housing migrants sat at 82 per cent in the summer.

That number has since risen, and is now projected to hit 92 per cent “by the year’s end”, the Express revealed on Sunday.

Home Office “Service User Demand Plans” detail just how many migrants can be shunted across each region.

But with the department pushing to close the migrant hotels – “Operation Scatter”, as critics call it – tens of thousands of migrants will soon be housed on Britain’s streets.

A document sent to the Home Affairs Select Committee details what those numbers look like, with a report on asylum accommodation to be released on Monday.

Some 40,000 people are set to be given accommodation in London, the East of England, southeast England and southwest England.

Current plans allow for 46,640 migrants – but 66,000 of them are in the queue for “dispersal accommodation”.

The Home Office is looking into the use of military bases and abandoned properties to stop even more hotels being taken over.

In the North West, 13,486 people are meant to be living in dispersal accommodation.

But Home Office records show 17,218 are actually there – with 1,809 in the queue.

In the South East, the picture is very different. 14,092 people are meant to be living in dispersal accommodation.

But 3,118 are there now, with 12,032 migrants in the queue.

Five of the Home Office’s 12 regions have not hit even 50 per cent of their accommodation targets.

Home Office Minister Alex Norris said in a letter to MPs: “The plans consider a range of factors, such as the availability of housing, the presence of other supported Home Office cohorts, the capacity of the local authority to meet user needs (e.g. GP availability) as well as broader social considerations like homelessness and social cohesion.

“As of July 1, 82 per cent (297) of local authorities and districts are accommodating service users.

“Among the 64 that do not currently provide accommodation, a further 36 local authorities are projected to have estate by the year’s end, increasing national coverage to 92 per cent.”

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson branded the news “an absolute betrayal of every hardworking family”.

“Communities up and down the country are being transformed against their will, saddling them with the bill in the process,” he said.

“Reform is the only party offering credible solutions to the illegal migration crisis. We will leave the ECHR, stop the boats and detain and deport those who illegally enter into our country.”

The Home Office, meanwhile, said it was “furious”.

“The Government is furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels,” a spokesman spat.

“That is why we will close every single asylum hotel – saving the taxpayer billions of pounds.

“We have already taken action – cutting the number of hotels in half and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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