LONDON, Oct 27, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Britain has "squandered billions" on housing 
asylum seekers as a result of "flawed contracts" and unsuitable 
accommodation, a parliamentary report said Monday.

The scathing report piles further pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to 
address immigration woes, after the weekend headlines were dominated by the 
manhunt for an asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was accidentally 
released early from prison.

Ethiopian migrant Hadush Kebatu was sentenced to 12 months in prison for 
sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, in a case which sparked 
large-scale anti-immigration demonstrations this summer.

Protesters targeted hotels contracted by the Home Office to house migrants 
while they await a decision on their asylum applications.

Kebatu was re-arrested on Sunday.

A sharp rise in asylum seekers being housed in government-paid accommodation 
-- from 47,500 at the end of 2018 to 103,000 in June 2025 -- for long periods 
has fuelled public anger.

The Home Affairs Committee found that the expected cost for asylum 
accommodation from 2019-2029 has more than tripled, from o4.5 billion ($6 
billion) to o15.3 billion ($20.4 billion).

While the use of hotels for this purpose has decreased from its peak in 2023 
during the previous Conservative administration, the Home Office is still 
"heavily reliant" on the costly option, according to the report.

More than 32,000 migrants are currently said to be housed in hotels, 
according to home office figures.

"Hotels went from a temporary stop-gap to the go-to solution for asylum 
accommodation, leading to a failed system that is expensive, unpopular with 
local communities and unsuitable for asylum seekers," the parliamentary 
committee said.

Several local communities have expressed concerns about safety as well as 
about the use of hotels for temporary accommodation rather than tourism.

Migrant rights groups have also criticised contractors for failing to meet 
adequate hygiene standards and making profits while providing cramped 
accommodation.

The report found that the Home Office "failed to ensure that the service 
delivered by providers consistently meets the required standards".

Starmer's Labour government has committed to ending the use of hotels in the 
asylum system by 2029, as it attempts to cut a big backlog in asylum 
applications.

The Ethiopian migrant Kebatu, who had been housed in the Bell Hotel, Epping, 
was found in a London park on Sunday after being wrongly released from prison 
and was re-arrested. Government officials have said he will be deported this 
week.

Justice Secretary David Lammy will lay out in parliament measures to 
strengthen prisoner release checks later Monday, after a government minister 
told broadcasters the justice system was "broken".