A left-leaning think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has revealed that the cost of housing and supporting asylum seekers in Britain has more than doubled in just four years.
Adjusted for inflation, the average expense per migrant skyrocketed from £17,000 in 2019/20 to £41,000 in 2023/24. Overall, the asylum system’s cost to taxpayers jumped from £739 million to an estimated £4.7 billion.
The IPPR blamed the surging costs on “slow processing of asylum claims” and the growing backlog under the previous government. With traditional accommodations overwhelmed, the Conservative government began housing mostly young male migrants in hotels, costing an estimated £145 per night per person—far more than the £14 average for traditional shared housing.
The system’s strain coincides with outsourcing accommodation management to private contractors Clearsprings, Mears, and Serco in 2019. These contracts, running until 2029, include a break clause in 2026, which the IPPR urged the government to use for reform. They proposed shifting responsibility to local authorities for cost-effective solutions and better-quality housing. The think tank also advocated providing integration support like English lessons and job training “from day one,” even before asylum claims are processed.
Reports from asylum seekers, some waiting as long as eight years for decisions, highlighted unhealthy and unsafe living conditions in the current model. Meanwhile, the Labour government is reportedly exploring plans to spread migrants across communities using private accommodations, including empty homes and former student housing.
Critics like Reform UK’s Nigel Farage warn this could worsen Britain’s housing crisis. Farage argued, “Using fewer hotels and pushing asylum seekers into the private rental market will only make housing more expensive.”
