More than 1,100 asylum seekers temporarily housed across Wolverhampton
Around 350 refugees are housed in hotels in Wolverhampton, the council has said, with another 820 in ‘dispersed accommodation.’
This equates to approximately 0.45 per cent of Wolverhampton’s population – 31 per 10,000 people.
The details emerged in an update to councillors on how the city processes refugees seeking asylum from war-torn and conflict-ridden countries.
The local authority’s scrutiny board this week heard a report from director of public health John Denley, who said he wanted to provide "greater clarity" on the Home Office asylum process.
He said asylum seeker accommodation in the city was "entirely managed" by Serco, which runs the scheme for the Home Office.
"They provide properties for initial and dispersed accommodation requirements, transportation to and from properties and a range of other services to support the welfare of asylum seekers," he said.
“Serco provide housing officers who support asylum seekers in hotels and dispersed accommodation, with signposting to a range of services such as GP registration, education, social prescribing and translation.
"People think this is all about hotels and it’s not. As we know, people seeking asylum arrive in the country in a number of different ways. They then go through the asylum process, which is basically a contingency hotel or dispersal to other accommodation, which could be anywhere in the UK."
The council’s director of governance, David Pattison, said a new local plan covering the asylum seeker process for Wolverhampton would be coming through at a later date.
There are currently thousands of asylum seekers temporarily housed in more than 20 hotels across the West Midlands.
