The scale of the asylum housing crisis is stark. According to Reuters, more than 32,000 people were being housed in hotels at the end of June – an 8% increase on the previous year. The number of asylum claims, at 111,000 in the year to June, is higher than at any point in the past two decades.
Neither of the government’s main approaches has proved sufficient. Hotels and hostels – generally used for Section 98 support (at least in the short term, according to the government) are widely opposed, expensive and often unsuitable. Dispersal housing, such as flats and HMOs under Section 95, has also attracted criticism and is constrained by wider pressures on the rental market.
Former RAF sites, military facilities and even barges have been proposed. Some have been abandoned for safety or cost reasons, others met with fierce local opposition. Hosting schemes such as those run by Refugees at Home have helped thousands, but cannot address the full scale of demand.
Solutions that planning can play a part in
Planning offers a more strategic and sustainable way forward.
For example, there are the buildings currently falling out of use. More than 50 private schools have closed or announced closure since the introduction of VAT on fees. Could these buildings, often with accommodation attached, provide temporary housing?
Similarly, the pandemic showed what can be achieved quickly through the Nightingale hospitals programme. While many of those temporary hospitals are now underused, they provide a model for rapid mobilisation of space that could be applied to asylum housing.
No doubt it will be controversial, but commercial property is another resource. In 2023 Architects Journal reported that local authorities across Britain were sitting on enough empty commercial buildings to provide almost 20,000 homes. With planning permission for change of use, many could be repurposed as housing.
The importance of place
Planners are not only problem-solvers of buildings but also of place. Planning can be used to analyse whether proposed sites are accessible by transport, whether local healthcare or schools can cope, and whether placing asylum seekers in one location risks over-concentration. Planners can advise on design solutions – modular units, for example, that can be repurposed as affordable housing later – to ensure that temporary solutions do not become long-term blight.
A strategic solution
What the UK needs is a national or regional strategy for asylum housing, not the current patchwork of reactive measures. Planning can help distribute provision more fairly, align asylum policy with broader regeneration objectives, and engage communities in the process to build trust.
The housing of asylum seekers is not only a moral issue but also a built environment challenge. That means it is a planning issue. If we are serious about moving beyond hotels, hostels and piecemeal solutions, then planning must be part of the answer.
