Home Office was housing 16,021 asylum seekers across 160 hotels at end of June, while small boat crossings down 23%
The number of asylum seekers living in hotels has halved in a year, Home Office figures show.
Sweeping changes to the asylum system have also led to a significant drop in legal arrivals and asylum claims, but the numbers of asylum seekers housed in private accommodation has increased as the government moves people from hotels into privately rented houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
There were 16,021 asylum seekers housed in 160 hotels at the end of June, down from 32,041 at the same point last year and a peak of 56,018 in September 2023.
Asylum hotels have been a flashpoint for the far right, especially last summer, and the government has pledged to end their use by the end of the parliament. It said earlier this month another 13 hotels had recently been exited.
But tens of thousands of people are still housed in other forms of contingency accommodation, which has also often been highly controversial, both in local communities and because of the conditions of the housing for a vulnerable group of people.
The latest figures show 69,038 were housed in temporary accommodation.
The shift from asylum hotels to other forms of accommodation has led to an 8% fall in Home Office spending on asylum.
The Guardian revealed this month that the government was considering paying higher prices for housing asylum seekers in private rental properties as part of Andy Burnham’s plan to spread accommodation more evenly across the country.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said figures showed the government was “restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system”.
She said: “A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels and deportations and returns are up markedly.”
Small boat crossings to the UK have fallen by 23% year on year, which Home Office officials said was down to a combination of more trafficking arrests and more interceptions by French police.
The previous prime minister, Keir Starmer, struck a deal with the French government to deport some would-be migrants back to France in exchange for providing others with a safe and legal route to the UK, known as the one in, one out policy.
However, Home Office figures show the introduction of the scheme has led to a rise in incidents of use of force against deportees to a record 210, including 181 occasions where restraint equipment was used, a figure that has doubled since the start of the French scheme.
Charities say they have documented injuries sustained by asylum seekers as they are removed back to France.
