Recommendation 43

The Government has committed to ending the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament. Ministers have yet to set out a fully articulated plan with clear milestones for how the Government will deliver a significant reduction in the use of hotels while maintaining flexible capacity in the system. We recognise that the Home Office faces an extremely difficult task, and there are no quick or easy solutions to ending the use of hotels. Due to the inherent unpredictability of the need for asylum accommodation, use of hotels as Contingency Accommodation has proved an essential backstop in the system for years. This experience suggests that it is unwise for the Government to box itself in by ruling out options. The Government must be honest about the challenges it faces if it is to avoid undermining public confidence still further by making commitments that it cannot expect to keep. (Conclusion, Paragraph 187)