Under the contracts signed by the Home Office, asylum seekers are supposed to be housed in so-called dispersal accommodation.
These are self-catered properties within communities and are usually local flats or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), a type of rented accommodation where at least three individuals share the use of a bathroom and kitchen.
The average cost of housing an asylum seeker in dispersal accommodation is £23.25 a night, making it by far the cheapest option.
In 2019, the government signed 10-year contracts with three companies – Serco, Mears and Clearsprings – and tasked them with finding properties that can be used for dispersal accommodation.
But since the number of small boat crossings began to rise significantly in 2022, there’s been a shortage of this type of accommodation.
Finding more of these properties became a big priority for the former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the latest government data shows that 66,234 people were in dispersal accommodation in June – around two-thirds of the total number of asylum seekers being housed.
But the three companies tasked with finding these properties can make bigger profits from other types of accommodation – and the contracts drawn up by the Home Office don’t include any penalties for the companies when they fail to hit their targets.
Dispersal accommodation can impact local housing markets by effectively taking flats or HMOs out of general supply, something the Home Office acknowledges would cause frustrations within communities.
Some concerns have been raised that protests targeting this type of accommodation could be difficult to police.
