20.08.18
Yorkshire council chiefs threaten pull out of asylum seeker housing project
Council bosses in Yorkshire are considering pulling out of an asylum seeker programme that gives homes to over 5,000 people unless the current project is changed.
In a letter to home secretary Sajid Javid, leaders from the 14 local authorities claimed that many northern towns and cities in the county have a higher concentration of asylum seekers “clustered in a handful of wards,” compared to sparse concentrations in the south and the east of the region.
According to the letter, obtained by the Yorkshire Post, leaders from the authorities said that the project was at risk of “catastrophic failure” if their issues are not addressed.
The council leaders said: “For too long, asylum dispersal has been implemented as something done to local authorities and communities in the north of England rather than done with them in partnership, with little heed paid to concerns raised about cohesion or disproportionate concentrations of asylum seekers in our towns and cities.
“A number of local authorities have regularly expressed these immigration concerns to the Home Office and immigration ministers, but we have experienced little urgency in addressing them.
“The current process of procurement for the new asylum system is making this outcome increasingly likely, whilst for potential new areas there is reduced incentive to join. We fear that the Home Office continuing the current approach risks catastrophic failure of the new asylum system as soon as it begins.”
Contracts to provide housing for asylum seekers were taken from the local authorities in 2012 and granted to Serco, G4S, and Clearsprings. New contracts to provide the housing are currently out to tender from September, however reports that there have not yet been any successful bids have led to concerns about the management of the project.
There were 5,054 asylum seekers homes in Yorkshire and the Humber between January and March of this year, with the majority being placed in Leeds, Hull, Bradford, Sheffield.
In Bradford, 793 people were housed— yet there were none in York, Craven, North Lincolnshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby, Harrogate and the East Riding of Yorkshire.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is an ongoing procurement process for the asylum accommodation and support contract for the North East, Yorkshire and Humber region.
“We are confident of having a fully operational contract before the expiry of the current contract, with sufficient time to properly transition the services.”
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Image credit: AndreyPopov, iStock images