Jack FenwickPolitical correspondent
PA Media
Where to house asylum seekers has become one of the fiercest topics of political debate since last year’s general election.
Ministers are considering housing 900 men in the Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex, as they seek to expand the use of military sites as an alternative to hotels.
Small boat crossings have reached near-record levels and MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee said the Home Office had squandered billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on asylum accommodation.
The estimated cost of the government’s 10-year asylum accommodation contracts has more than tripled, from £4.5bn to £15.3bn.
Ministers inside the Home Office believe that ultimately this issue can only be solved by increasing removals of failed asylum seekers and deterring people from arriving on small boats in the first place.
But while they attempt to implement policies to achieve those aims, the Home Office still has to find somewhere for the tens of thousands of people seeking asylum to stay.
Arrival
When people arrive in the UK by crossing the Channel on small boats, they are generally sent to a processing centre at Manston in Kent.
The site is located on the former RAF Manston base and was opened by the Home Office in February 2022 as a response to the increasing number of arrivals.
Migrants are supposed to be held there for 24 hours, while officials carry out security and identity checks, but overcrowding has sometimes led to people being forced to stay on the site for weeks.
In late 2022, thousands of migrants were placed in tents at Manston, leading to overcrowding and disease, including diphtheria.
A Home Office inquiry is currently taking place into the conditions at Manston.
The department is also seeking planning approval to improve the site and use it for processing asylum seekers into the 2030s.
Initial accommodation
After leaving Manston, asylum seekers are then sent to initial accommodation provided by the Home Office, while officials decide whether they are eligible for further support.
These are supposed to be centres managed by specialist migrant help staff, but many asylum seekers are instead sent to hotels or hostels straight away.
There are 1,750 places available in initial accommodation and the latest government data showed 1,665 of those places were occupied in June.
Most asylum seekers will then be sent to longer-term accommodation, where they will stay while their asylum claim is being processed.
Flats and HMOs
Under the contracts signed by the Home Office, asylum seekers are supposed to be housed in so
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