Afghan refugees in UK are homeless after government hotel evictions

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Aug 2023 16:33
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Afghan refugees in the UK are homeless as a result of ongoing "shameless" evictions by the UK government.

Two girls from Afghanistan wait with other evacuees to fly to the United States or another safe location in a makeshift gate inside a hanger at the US Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. (AP)

Afghan refugees in the United Kingdom are appearing to authorities as homeless after being kicked out of government hotels in "shameful" evictions. Many of the families migrated to the UK after the Taliban took power in 2021, having worked with or for the British government and armed forces in Afghanistan.

By the end of May, all 8,000 Afghans residing in bridging hotels had been presented with eviction notices, and the government had given them three months to find alternative housing.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils, has now issued a warning after hearing claims that up to 20% of those removed had declared themselves homeless to local authorities. The hotels are being emptied in stages, with guests in the smaller hotels leaving first.

Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who served in Afghanistan, called the growing number of homeless families "shameful." He stated that moving people out of hotels was appropriate, but not at the rate that the government was doing it.

He said: “These are not economic migrants. These are Afghans who placed themselves in mortal peril to serve alongside British forces in Afghanistan and they did so at our request," adding that “These are people to whom we’ve given an invitation to come to our country. Nobody should be homeless, and these people need to be given the time and space ... to ensure that they are properly relocated.”

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today program, he added: “There is a real risk here that we are seeing what is both morally flawed and poor public policy because homeless families are being created. We owe them a debt of gratitude, so I think what we need to do is move at a pace that sees these Afghan families transition in a way that allows local authorities the time to identify suitable accommodation."

"We are currently looking at around 50 individuals who do not have a viable option at the end of the rehousing process and for whom the council will need to assess a homelessness duty," a representative for West Northamptonshire Council told local media.

A government spokesperson said: “Hotels are not and were never designed to be long-term accommodation and it is not in Afghans’ best interests to be living in hotel accommodation for months or years on end.

Earlier in June, in a secret crisis meeting in Downing Street, UK, the government was warned that about 8,000 Afghan refugees who were evacuated during the US troops' exit from Kabul face homelessness this summer.

The government argued that acute housing shortage and high costs stood in the way of finding alternative residences for the refugees, especially given the beginning of the summer season, refugee canal crossings are also expected to increase.

However, The Observer, following an announcement that the government managed to acquire giant barrages to house about 1,000 refugees, discovered that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government had spent a large number of tax-payers' funds for a small value.

For example, the outlet revealed that the UK Home Office spent £1.5 million through Serco, a contractor, to renovate a “substandard” former military base into an asylum-seeker reception center. However, this renovated location was never used.

The Guardian also reported that after failing to convert RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, MPs, and council members accused ministers of wasting taxpayer money, claiming the amount revealed to The Observer and Liberty Investigates, after a freedom of information battle, may only have been a small portion of the actual sum spent.