Afghans who fled their war-torn country to find refuge in Britain could become homeless because of the UK’s crippling housing crisis, town halls chief warn today.
The Local Government Association fears families will end up in temporary accommodation thanks to “acute” shortages and long waiting lists.
Around 8,000 Afghan individuals and families - temporarily housed at 59 hotels - have been told by the Home Office to leave hotels by the end of August and find alternative housing.
The LGA said: “Councils have a proud history of stepping up during humanitarian crises and supporting asylum seekers and refugees to settle in the UK and rebuild their lives.
“They are working hard to support Afghan households served with eviction notices with enhanced case working, involving councils, government and the community and voluntary sector, attempting to help them to find accommodation.”
But, as the organisation’s annual conference opens in Bournemouth today, it warned that councils are “growing increasingly frustrated about a lack of recognition of existing local pressures and a failure to adequately engage with councils on the ground about the complexities they face as they try to manage the impact on local services and community cohesion as a result of ongoing asylum and resettlement pressures”.
Chairman Shaun Davies said: “Councils have a proud history of stepping up and supporting asylum seekers and refugees to settle in the UK and rebuild their lives.
“But combined pressures from government asylum and resettlement schemes are growing on councils.
“We are at crisis point. We want to work with the Government to get this right, not just in a way that best supports the people arriving in the UK but also tackles the unsustainable pressures on our local services and on our communities.”
The LGA called for “better engagement with councils”, urging the Home Office to “take proper account of local concerns and impacts”.
It demanded “a genuine partnership” between Westminster and town halls to “better plan how to meet our pressing housing needs in the short and the long term across all asylum and resettlement schemes”.
A Government spokesman said: “Hotels are not, and were never designed to be, long-term accommodation for Afghans resettled in the UK and it is not in their best interests to be living in hotel accommodation for months or years on end.
“That is why we have announced a plan, backed by £285million of new funding, to speed up the resettlement of Afghan nationals into long-term homes.
“Extensive government support is available and we will continue to do all we can to help Afghan families as they rebuild their lives here.”
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