Residents in several English towns have staged weekly protests demanding the closure of hotels used to house people seeking asylum, as ministers consider alternatives that could include military sites and privately rented shared houses.
Campaigners and local authorities say closing asylum hotels without a clear, managed replacement risks shifting large numbers of vulnerable people into houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs, and concentrating pressure on poorer communities already hosting significant numbers of asylum seekers.
In Warrington, where two hotels currently house about 240 asylum seekers, residents have held peaceful demonstrations for months. "I'm angry. My son can't get a house, but they're housing these first. It's not right," said Mandy, who lives across the road from a Holiday Inn now used as an asylum hotel. Other neighbours described feeling unsafe after what they said were intimidating encounters on the street, while some said they had no problem with their new neighbours and feared protests could be exploited by extremists.
About 200 miles to the north, Wigan has seen a rapid rise in HMOs. The town now has more than 900 such properties, a roughly 160% increase since 2021, many of them housing groups of people seeking asylum, according to local residents and council figures. Adrian, who lives next to one converted terraced house, said new occupants began arriving without consultation and that the street had seen confrontations and behaviour he described as intimidating. Serco, the contractor that runs the Home Office’s regional asylum accommodation contract, said it was not responsible for community behaviour and that policing or Home Office action would be appropriate in such cases.
Pressure on ministers has increased after the publication of Home Office and independent analyses showing tens of thousands of asylum seekers are in either hotels or dispersal accommodation. Analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford found that in the first quarter of 2025 just over 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels and another 66,000 were in taxpayer-funded dispersal accommodation, which includes HMOs. In north-west England, more than 16,800 people were in dispersal accommodation in June 2025, while Wigan had 1,193 people receiving accommodation support at the end of March 2025 — about 35 asylum seekers per 10,000 residents, compared with a UK average of 15 per 10,000.
Ministers and officials are debating alternatives. Defence Secretary John Healey said the government was looking at expanding the use of "military and non-military sites for potential temporary accommodation." The government said it had inherited an asylum system in chaos, was doubling the rate of asylum decision-making and had cut spending on asylum hotels by almost £1 billion in the last financial year. New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said stopping small-boat crossings was a priority and that she would explore options to restore order to the immigration system.
Some local authorities have already tried to limit further concentrations of HMOs. Wigan Council said it has an agreement with the Home Office that government contractors will not procure additional properties in the town for asylum accommodation and acknowledged the pressure placed on local services. The council also noted HMOs are used by a range of residents and can provide lower-cost housing for people living alone.
Planning consultants, charities and think tanks warn that closing hotels without a clear procurement strategy could incentivise landlords to convert family homes into HMOs to secure Home Office contracts. Faraz Baber of consultancy Lanpro said the shift risks taking a "bad to worse" turn, concentrating demand for properties that can be turned into HMOs and increasing tensions. Josh Nicholson of the Centre for Social Justice warned of a "race to the bottom" between contractors and councils seeking cheap accommodation, placing greater burdens on deprived areas where landlords can make larger profits from state-backed contracts.
Local experiences illustrate the competing pressures. In Wigan, two men who had fled Iraq and Afghanistan and were living in a converted terrace described clean, lockable bedrooms, shared kitchen and bathroom facilities, and help registering with a GP and dentist. They said they preferred the HMO to a hotel and received about £50 a week on a Home Office-issued debit card to cover living costs. "Those who come here are people whose lives are in danger or who face serious difficulties," one said through a translator, adding that people who break British law should face consequences.
At the same time, residents in both towns told reporters about incidents they say have increased stress in their communities: a village pub near Warrington was vandalised following rumours it might be converted to asylum housing, and some people described being followed or harassed in the street. Police and councils said complaints should be reported and have been working with community groups and contractors to address safety and nuisance issues.
Delivery firms have also been drawn into the debate. One Wigan resident showed images of cyclists wearing Just Eat and Uber Eats kit entering and leaving HMOs; both companies said they have introduced measures to tackle illegal working and verify courier identities on their platforms.
Charities highlight the local housing pressures that feed public frustration. Shelter said Wigan has about 11,500 households on its social housing waiting list and Warrington about 7,600. Campaigners warn that placing asylum seekers in HMOs in areas already short of affordable housing could prompt further public backlash unless accompanied by better communication and community support.
Political leaders have used the issue to press for policy change. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would stop migrants arriving on small boats within two weeks of taking office, while Conservative politicians have criticised what they call a failure to prioritise British residents.
Local councils and the Home Office said they were taking action to balance community security with the needs of people seeking asylum. Warrington Borough Council told reporters that decisions on hotel use rested with the Home Office and that it was considering tightening HMO rules in response to local concerns. Wigan Council reiterated its agreement to limit further Home Office procurement in the borough.
The debate leaves an unresolved policy question: how to reduce the use of hotels, which ministers and some residents view as unsustainable and disruptive, without driving demand for HMOs and concentrating asylum accommodation in communities already under strain. Local leaders, contractors and national officials said planning changes, stronger oversight of contractors and clearer communication with communities would be needed to prevent "a shift from one problem to another," but they offered differing views on how quickly and effectively that could be achieved.
As ministers weigh immediate options such as military sites alongside longer-term reforms to asylum processing and accommodation procurement, residents, charities and local authorities say greater transparency and local engagement will be needed to reduce tensions and ensure that both community safety and the welfare of people seeking asylum are addressed.
