Sandwell Council leader claims asylum seeker numbers in borough 'unfair' as new contingency hotel opens
The leader of Sandwell Council has written an open letter to the Minister for Immigration claiming the asylum dispersal system has an "unfair impact on Sandwell", as a second hotel in the borough begins to home asylum seekers.
Sandwell has the third largest population of asylum seekers out of 30 local authorities in the West Midlands region and Home Office plans could soon see more than 360 asylum seekers being placed in hotels in the borough.
It comes as a hotel in Sandwell stopped taking bookings last week in order to start housing asylum seekers, which is the second hotel in Sandwell to do so, and will eventually accommodate 150 single asylum seekers.
The first contingency hotel in the borough has been operating for two years, but the leader of Sandwell Council says the Home Office plans to increase the occupancy of this hotel by more than 75 per cent, from 120 to 212 individuals.
In the last week, occupancy at this hotel has increased to more than 150 for the first time.
As a result of this, Councillor Kerrie Carmichael, leader of Sandwell Council, has published an open letter to the Minister of State, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick, in which she asks the Minister to pause the placement of further asylum seekers in Sandwell and to make a new burden payment to the council to account for the number of asylum seekers being housed in the borough.
In her letter, she claims Sandwell continues to "disproportionately shoulder the additional pressure on local resources at a time when doing so is more difficult with huge financial pressures on services resulting from the cost of living increases."
She also claims the high number of asylum seekers being housed in the borough is having an "acute impact" on homeless services in Sandwell, with many private landlords choosing contracts with the Home Office over working with the council to house homeless families, because the council cannot match the financial incentive provided by the Home Office.
She has also criticised the reduction of the notice period from 28 days to seven in some cases in order to find temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.
In her letter, Councillor Carmichael says: "Sandwell is a place with both a strong sense of community and a rich history of migration and we are proud of our history of helping new arrivals.
"We are determined to give those who are seeking sanctuary in Sandwell the support they need to make their home in our borough. However, this has become increasingly difficult as a result of the current unfairness in the asylum seeker dispersal system.
