External factors, including the pandemic and the “dramatic” increase in small boat arrivals, have meant the Home Office has had to accommodate “a growing number of people for longer periods of time” the report said.
Choices made by the previous Conservative government, including to delay asylum decisions as it pursued the scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda, factored into this, MPs added.
While the report acknowledged the “challenging environment” in which the Home Office was operating, it said “its chaotic response has demonstrated that it has not been up to the challenge”.
The MPs said they had heard “too many” cases of inadequate asylum accommodation and unaddressed safeguarding concerns for vulnerable people.
In response to the report, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We have already taken action – closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly £1 billion and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”
Several protests and counter-protests over asylum hotels have taken place across the UK this year, notably in Epping over the summer after an asylum seeker being housed at The Bell Hotel was charged with two sexual assaults.
