Keir Starmer is facing Labour council rebellion over plans to house asylum seekers, as efforts to address Britain’s “broken” asylum system risk exacerbating housing shortages, a recently published analysis has revealed.
When in opposition, Labour was consistently critical of Conservative proposals for tackling the migrant crisis, in particular the highly controversial Rwanda policy.
However, the Government’s new proposal to use 800 accommodation sites across the UK to house asylum seekers have triggered warnings of chaos.
Local authorities fear immense strain, worsened by extensive social housing waiting lists and difficulties meeting deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s ambitious house-building target of 2.5 homes per minute.
In November, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned housing pressures, compounded by asylum and resettlement demands, will make it extremely difficult for councils to provide accommodation for both new arrivals and existing residents.
An analysis undertaken by the Daily Telegraph that councils including Newham, Brent, Bolton, Islington and Luton face the biggest challenges.
In the first two named authorities, more than 20% of households are on social housing waiting lists, with in excess of 30 asylum seekers per 10,000 residents.
Bolton and Islington report similar population ratios for asylum seekers but slightly lower waiting lists, while Luton struggles with waiting lists between 10% and 15% of households.
Brent Council reportedly has capacity for additional asylum seekers, but many councils risk exceeding their quotas, which limit asylum seekers to 0.5% of the local population.
John Woolf, a Labour councillor in Islington, voiced concerns over the rising number of refugees presenting as homeless due to accelerated asylum application processing, often leaving individuals with just seven days to vacate accommodation.
Islington has allocated £500,000 to refugee support projects and is buying 310 former council homes for temporary housing.
Luton Council has cited disproportionate asylum placements by the Home Office as a key pressure on its temporary accommodation options.
However, Brent council leader Muhammed Butt argued that pressures stem largely from historic Right to Buy sell-offs and private landlord evictions rather than asylum placements.
The broader crisis saw £1.74 billion spent on temporary accommodation for 117,000 households in 2024, with those in “dispersed accommodation” growing by over 10,000 since April 2022.
Refugee homelessness has surged, with nearly 20,000 successful asylum applicants now without stable housing – a dizzying sixfold increase since 2020.
Labour has announced plans to invest £1 billion to address these challenges, while councils reported a rise in waiting lists, now at 1.33 million households, the highest since 2014. With many waiting more than five years, local leaders claim the Government’s housing targets are unachievable.
Andrew Walker of the Local Government Information Unit stressed the lack of resilience in housing systems, while some councils, such as Windsor and Maidenhead, are pursuing steep council tax hikes to bridge funding gaps.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has called for sustainable solutions to curb illegal crossings, advocating for offshore processing.
The LGA has urged the Government to work with it on a cohesive, community-based approach to such housing challenges.
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
