Hotels housing asylum seekers in the UK have increasingly become targets of aggressive far-right protests for a second year in a row. Authorities, including the UK Home Secretary, have condemned such actions. Meanwhile, contractors working for the Home Office “reached out” to property specialists earlier in August to house thousands of migrants after a landmark ruling of the High Court.
Why do Asylum Seekers Live in Hotels?
Tens of thousands of people are stuck in the UK’s asylum system due to the backlog of applications that has built up over the years.
Currently, 90,812 migrants are waiting six months or more for an initial decision in their asylum case, which is an 18 percent reduction compared to a year earlier. The length of time people remain in asylum housing depends on the time taken to process their claim. link
However, some 200 hotels are still being used by the Home Office to house more than 32,000 asylum seekers, a similar number to summer 2024 – after Labour was forced to find accommodation for the record 27,997 migrants who have crossed the Channel so far in 2025, the Telegraph reports.
Despite the poor conditions, the small number of private sector companies awarded government contracts to run this accommodation have enjoyed record profits. Earlier in 2024, the founder of one of the major asylum accommodation contract holders entered the Sunday Times rich list with a net worth of £750 million.
The Home Office has issued an urgent appeal for 5,000 properties to house up to 20,000 migrants amid an accommodation crisis caused by a landmark High Court ruling.
The Epping council ruling threatens to cause similar legal challenges by other councils seeking to shut asylum hotels in their areas. Two dozen have already signaled that they would consider following suit, which, if successful, could worsen the asylum accommodation crisis.
Strict Asylum Law could Overload Social Housing in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is moving ahead with its most restrictive asylum policy to date. On July 4, 2025, the Dutch parliament’s lower house passed the Asylum Emergency Measures Act, which eliminates permanent residence permits, severely limits family reunification, shortens temporary permits, and expands deportation powers. One of the most controversial aspects is the criminalization of assistance to undocumented migrants. It will also stop refugees from bringing in their families until they have lived in the country for two years and have a home and income.
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has reported that roughly a quarter of its spaces are taken up by people who already hold residence permits but cannot move on due to the housing crisis. This bottleneck not only reduces capacity for new arrivals but is also driving up costs, with the state potentially facing €100 million in EU fines for failing to process asylum claims in time.
According to the Dutch government website the Netherlands is home to 73,500 people who are entitled to COA support. Of that group, 36,750 people are accommodated in regular reception centres. Approximately 30,000 live in emergency accommodation and 6,800 people are staying with friends or relatives, or in municipal accommodation.
According to COA the change would require massive spending on extra temporary housing, Currently, refugees spend an average of 34 weeks in temporary accommodation, but this is now expected to stretch into years. The agency also pointed out that the average waiting time for social housing is seven years, and far longer in major cities.
Municipalities have voiced strong concerns over the burden-sharing of asylum accommodation. The government’s plan to dismantle the Dispersal Act has been met with resistance from local authorities.
The Dutch Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) is requesting eight provinces to provide a total of 2,600 emergency reception places for asylum seekers by the end of July.
The agency is uncertain whether there will be enough accommodation available in the… pic.twitter.com/WApp5DdN2c
— FactRefuge (@FactRefuge) July 23, 2025
Many municipalities argue that repealing the act will worsen the crisis by leaving certain areas overburdened while others avoid responsibility. At the same time, provinces stress they lack the tools or resources to manage the strain effectively and fear escalating tensions between local populations and incoming refugees if support structures remain inconsistent.
Experts say that it will cost €660 million for every year that an additional 10,000 refugees are forced to remain in temporary housing. Each year, around 30,000 refugees are provided with permanent homes, but under the new rules, they will have to wait their turn.
Germany: Asylum Accommodation Run by Private Companies
Germany has increasingly outsourced the management of asylum seeker housing to private companies.
At least 130 homes or reception centres for asylum seekers – collectively housing around 55,000 individuals – are now fully or partially run by private firms, primarily Serco subsidiaries such as ORS and European Homecare.
These contracts are highly lucrative: internal documents reveal that some facilities report gross profit margins exceeding 50 percent, with one particular centre near Hahn Airport (with 530 places) seeing a margin of 66.8 percent last year.
These developments have drawn sharp criticism. Experts highlight that these disproportionately high profits indicate the sector has become exceptionally lucrative—possibly at the expense of service quality and humane treatment. Allegations include serious lapses in conditions and oversight. For instance, reports have surfaced of issues such as food infestation, excessive use of isolation, and even instances of self-harm in Serco-run facilities in other countries, raising concerns about the implications of profit-driven asylum management in Germany.
