An investigation by a national newspaper and a compilation of land registry and local council records found that migrants are increasingly being accommodated in ordinary streets across roughly 100 English towns, villages and cities as the government moves to close asylum hotels and relocate people into private accommodation.
The shift, described in reports as part of a plan critics have labelled "Operation Scatter," follows a government pledge to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation by 2029. Analysis by Oxford University's Migration Observatory cited in the reporting found that only around 30,000 of roughly 110,000 people in the asylum system remain in hotels, leaving tens of thousands to be housed elsewhere.
The properties being used are predominantly houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs, converted from family homes and smaller rental units. The reports include examples of private landlords and property developers marketing refurbished family houses as "asylum seekers' havens," and offering multi-year leases to Home Office contractors. One example given was a six-bedroom property in Birmingham that was described in marketing materials as transformed for asylum accommodation; the brochure said the property had doubled in value after conversion and had been leased to the Home Office for seven years at a reported monthly rent of £2,000, with repairs covered.
Commercial accommodation providers contracted by the Home Office — identified in the reporting as Serco, Mears Group and Clearsprings Ready Homes — offer landlords guaranteed rental income, no-void provisions, and management and repair services, according to advertisements and interviews cited. Serco told reporters it was not responsible for the behaviour of people housed in the community and said that was a matter for the police and the government.
Local authorities, residents and elected officials described a rapid increase in HMOs in some towns. In Wigan, council records show a growth in the number of HMOs to about 900, a rise reported as 190 percent over four years, while the town's housing waiting list stands at about 12,000 people. A resident quoted in the reporting said he was not consulted before people were moved into a nearby house and reported incidents he described as intimidation and confrontations.
In other areas along the east coast and in the North West and Midlands, reporters found clusters of converted properties. In Grimsby, a terraced house was refurbished to provide four bedrooms and now houses people who had previously been in hotel accommodation. In Skegness, multiple former bedsits and small rental units reportedly now accommodate groups of asylum seekers. An East Sussex council was reported to have purchased two new-build homes, at prices described in the reporting as £450,000 and £325,000, for refugee resettlement. In a Suffolk village, four houses listed at about £300,000 each were reported to have been taken for asylum accommodation, prompting concern among some local residents and potential buyers.
The reporting also highlighted market effects. It cited data indicating there are now about 360,000 HMOs in England and reported average sale prices for HMOs of roughly £334,260, about 13 percent higher than similar family homes, with rental returns reported as high as 12.5 percent in some cases. Those figures were used to illustrate why some landlords and developers have been acquiring and refurbishing properties for use as migrant accommodation.
Campaigners and some councillors said the relocation programme is adding pressure to local housing markets already coping with large council waiting lists. The reporting quoted a Labour councillor in Basildon, Gavin Callaghan, saying residents had been displaced from rental homes by landlords converting properties into accommodation for people under Home Office contracts. The Oxford Migration Observatory analysis cited in the reports noted that most local authorities had taken some share of relocated people, with only 59 of 361 councils in England and Wales reported as not having done so.
The Home Office did not provide details in the reporting on how many HMOs it has contracted or how many it expects to need as hotels are phased out. The government has said it aims to replace hotel accommodation with alternative arrangements, including private-sector leases and local authority housing, as part of a broader strategy to manage asylum accommodation and costs.
Reporting on the ground recorded mixed reactions: people housed in converted properties said they were grateful for rent-free accommodation after difficult journeys, while some local residents and officials expressed frustration at the pace and scale of moves and at perceived impacts on local housing availability.
Independent researchers, councils and charities have previously warned that shifting large numbers of people into private HMOs can create tensions around integration, local services and housing supply. The recent reporting underscores the scale of the logistical and political challenge facing the government as it seeks to reduce the use of hotels for asylum accommodation while responding to continued arrivals and resettlement commitments for refugees from countries including Afghanistan, Ukraine and, as announced by ministers, people fleeing Gaza.
The balance between meeting immediate accommodation needs and protecting local housing supply remains a subject of debate among councils, housing charities and the government. The providers and landlords participating in Home Office contracts say their schemes ensure people have shelter and guarantee revenue for property owners, while councils and residents in some areas say the arrangements have been introduced without adequate consultation and are affecting access to homes for local people.