Over 100 NGOs and refugee charities join forces to call for end of using hotels to house asylum seekers

16 April 2025, 21:24 | Updated: 17 April 2025, 10:47

More than 100 refugee charities and NGOs have called for an end to "expensive and unsuitable hotel accommodation" for asylum seekers.

107 leaders from various groups have written an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to demand the end of use of hotels for housing asylum seekers and to stop using the UK foreign aid budget to cover the costs.

Hotel accommodation for asylum seekers costs the UK £2.8 billion in the last year alone.

The open letter demands the government stops funding the hotels through the international aid budget as it's been cut to increase defence spending, LBC understands.

This comes as 705 migrants crossed the English Channel on Tuesday in 12 boats - the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

The charities are calling for Sir Keir to use more "cost effective community housing" organised by local authorities rather than hotels.

'Expensive and inappropriate'

Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the Select Committee for International Development, said: "Of course, we have a duty to support refugees and asylum seekers but using the UK aid budget to fund overpriced hotels is completely the wrong approach.

"These expensive and inappropriate hotel contracts funded by the taxpayer must end.  

"We urgently need a fair and humane asylum system at home that doesn’t come at the cost of abandoning those already facing hardship globally.”

Leaders of NGOs and refugee charities from across the UK - including Refugee Council, Refugee Action, Care International UK, Choose Love, the ONE campaign, International Rescue Committee UK, Safe Passage International, Save the Children UK, WaterAid - came together to write the open letter to the Prime Minister.

It follows the government’s decision to cut the UK aid budget from 0.5% gross national income to 0.3% to fund an increase in defence spending.

Domestic hotel arrangement for asylum seekers uses up 20 per cent of international aid budget, described as "extremely expensive and unsuitable".

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'World’s most marginalised'

Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, said: "At a time when UK aid is being slashed, every penny counts. It is right that we support refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, but this must come from its own budget.

"Continuing to spend billions on expensive hotel contracts is both wrong and a waste of public money.

"We urge the government to reduce the amount of UK aid spent on these inflated hotel contracts and ensure that any recovered funds are directed back to the UK aid budget to directly support the world’s most marginalised communities."

The letter calls for the government to find more cost-effective solutions to house asylum seekers and refugees.

It recommends that they scale up “the use of more cost-effective and appropriate community housing for asylum seekers by giving local authorities responsibility and resources to accommodate people seeking asylum, rather than private companies.”

'Mismanagement'

Imran Hussain, Executive Director of External Affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “It is vitally important overseas aid is used as it was always supposed to be used - to support people in need around the world.

”This is fundamental for making the world a safer, more secure place. It is also key for preventing people from becoming forcibly displaced from their homes and in search of safety in other countries, including Britain.

”Poor policy decisions and mismanagement of the asylum system have led to costs spiralling. The most effective way to take costs out of the system is by working quickly and fairly to determine who is a refugee and who has no right to stay here. Get that right, and the accommodation costs will fall.”

The letter also highlights that “poverty, conflict, and climate change are key drivers of displacement” and “spending increasingly finite UK aid resources domestically rather than on these core areas undermines the UK’s efforts to prevent displacement.”

This comes as more than 700 migrants crossed the English Channel on Tuesday in the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

Home Office provisional figures suggest 705 people made the journey in 12 boats.

It comes just days after 656 people made the crossing in 11 boats on Saturday, which at the time was the highest daily number for the year.

Tuesday's total of 705 is still some way below the highest ever number for a single day, which was 1,305 on September 3 2022.

The latest figures bring the cumulative number of arrivals in 2025 to a provisional total of 8,888.

This is 42% higher than at the same point last year, when the total stood at 6,265, and 81% higher than at this stage in 2023, when the total was 4,899.

More arrivals have been recorded in January to April 2025 than in the equivalent four-month period in any year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018.

The figures come as the Government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling across the Channel.

A Home Office spokesperson said they are "intensifying" collaboration with France and other countries over tackling gangs' business models, and introducing tougher enforcement powers under new legislation.

"We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security," the spokesperson said.

"That's why this government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats."

Meanwhile, French coastguards said 30 people were rescued on Tuesday after a number of migrant boats were reported to have left the coast between Walde Lighthouse and Dunkirk, in northern France, and got into difficulty.

A government spokesperson said: "We are delivering on our pledge to close asylum hotels, which will drastically reduce taxpayer costs and give control back to local communities. 

"Under the previous government, the development budget was redirected towards the asylum backlog, which is now being tackled at record pace to redirect our focus on international priorities overseas.

"We have increased asylum decision-making by 52% in the last three months of 2024, and since the election, have removed more than 24,000 people with no right to be here."