Recommendation 16

When we asked the Home Office why it was so far from achieving its accommodation targets, it told us that there is a “huge amount of pressure” for the type of accommodation it is trying to source.44 In written evidence, the Local Government Association (LGA) told us that providers sourcing accommodation for the Home Office compete with councils seeking accommodation for domestic families and people who have resettled in the UK or been granted asylum, which increases prices and distorts local markets.45 The Home Office acknowledged that it was “in similar parts of the market” to councils.46 The LGA told us that homelessness, low social housing stock and an unaffordable private rented sector are “creating a housing crisis”, and that this will make the government’s plans to house people waiting for an asylum decision across all local authorities challenging. The Home Office is planning to implement a ‘place-based approach’ and said it was seeking “to get into a position where [it has] a much closer and ongoing dialogue” with providers and local areas.47 It told us that it would have “meaningful discussions” with every local authority where there is concern about the changes that it is implementing.48