Asylum seekers costing £5 million a week in housing

The British taxpayer is forking out close to £5 million each week to house asylum seekers according to new figures released in parliament. This represents a doubling of costs for housing in just two years.

The UK government paid £230 million in the last financial year to accommodate immigrants and families seeking asylum, a significant rise from the 2006/7 period where just £132 million was spent on providing shelter to those who claim that a return to their homeland is not possible.

Phil Woolas, the UK Immigration Minister, confirmed that there are some 20 local councils of organisations that coordinate housing for asylum seekers. Among these was the Cardiff City Council which received £4.8 million in government subsidies across its 560 households involved with immigration. Elsewhere, the Nottingham City Council was paid £5.7 million for its 580 houses while Liverpool City Council pocketed £6.1 million to shelter 290 families.

£37.6 million was also paid to private companies who provide refugee care while the number of dwellings that provided residential support grew from 16,550 to 24,890. All of the marked increases have sparked uproar from opponents of the Labour government’s immigration policy as Tory MP’s accused the government of not being in control of the system leaving taxpayers needlessly out of pocket. This statement was highlighted byb the case of a Somali family who were found to be living in five-storey £1,600 per week London townhouse in September.

The UK Border Agency has defended the statistics saying that overall costs associated with housing asylum seekers have halved in the period since 2003/4.