The UK government has announced plans to move thousands of Afghans out of hotel accommodation and into more permanent homes. Veterans minister Johnny Mercer told the House of
Commons that the continued residency of 8,000 Afghans in hotels, half of them children, was an “unacceptable and unsustainable situation” and costing taxpayers £1m per day. Mercer promised “significant support” for the Afghans to find alternative accommodation and £35m in extra support for local councils to help provide increased assistance, while the local authority housing fund will be expanded by £250m. However, Mercer warned that those who turned down a “generous offer” of new accommodation would not receive a second offer.
Operation Pitting saw the evacuation of 15,000 people from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 as the country fell back under Taliban control following the chaotic withdrawal of Western troops. Afghans have been welcomed to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, set up for Afghans who worked for or with Britain in Afghanistan, and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, which was launched in January last year and aims to resettle up to 20,000 people over the next few years.
Mercer told MPs the government remained “unbowed in our commitment to those who supported us, at great personal risk, in Afghanistan”. He also announced that new Afghan arrivals in the UK would in future go straight into “appropriate accommodation” rather than hotels. British veterans across the UK were, Mercer claimed, “enjoying normal lives today because of the service and sacrifice” of Afghans who “kept them safe” during the long conflict in the Asian country.
Labour, however, claimed that the government was serving “eviction notices” on thousands of Afghans and demanded an assurance that none would be left homeless. Shadow defence secretary John Healey told MPs: “Never mind the warm words from the minister today. He has confirmed the government is giving them the cold shoulder. He is serving eviction notices on 8,000 Afghans, half of whom are children, with no guarantee they will be offered a suitable, settled place to live.”
Charities have also expressed concern over the government’s plans. Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We are deeply concerned about many elements of these plans, in particular the risk that they could lead to people who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan being left homeless and destitute on the streets of Britain. This is not how those who were promised a warm welcome in the UK should be treated. Hotels are not the right place for refugees to live but the fact that thousands of Afghans have been left in them for months on end is a consequence of government mismanagement and a failure to work successfully in partnership with local councils and other agencies to find suitable housing.”
The Local Government Association called for “sufficient resources” to be given to councils to prevent a “further rise in homelessness as a result of a chronic shortage of properties across the UK”. Photo by Christopher Killalea, Wikimedia commons.