City council to explore all available avenues including legal amid concern that Home Office asylum claims plan will lead to rise in rough sleeping
Glasgow City Council has warned that the Home Office’s proposed acceleration of asylum applications could lead to an “unprecedented” rise in homeless people.
At an emergency committee meeting on 12 October, the council's chief executive, Annemarie O'Donnell, warned that the UK Government’s streamlined asylum process announced in June 2023 had put “significant additional pressure” on the rest of the city’s homelessness service and had led to a rise in rough sleeping in the city.
The streamlined asylum process was announced to address the significant backlog of asylum decisions and reduce the numbers of asylum applicants in contingency and dispersed accommodation.
The process applies to households from countries who are more likely to receive a positive asylum decision.
In April this year, more than 600 positive decisions were made in Glasgow, requiring a “major response” from its asylum refugee team.
In a report circulated to the emergency Ccommittee, O'Donnell noted that this figure had “since translated to increased homelessness applications and an increase in the use of hotel and B&B placements, particularly for single males”.
No government funding has been provided to deal with the rise in applications, which it has been estimated could cost around £50m.
During the meeting, the committee agreed to consider all available routes in escalating the matters to the Home Office and UK Government, alongside any legal avenues given the wider financial, reputational and economic implications of the streamlined asylum process.
A council lawyer told the emergency meeting that legal action against the Home Office “remains a possibility”.
Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The Home Office is embarking on a course of action which will be devastating for refugees and for cities across the UK. For Glasgow, a sudden cost of around £50m is simply unmanageable and the suffering caused to thousands of people who will suddenly be pushed into destitution is simply unimaginable.
“I want to see people humanely treated by the asylum system. Refugees and immigrants have enriched Glasgow’s culture for centuries and I am so proud that people want to make their home here. But this unstructured, unplanned and ill-conceived action will cause massive harm to people and to institutions across the country. The Home Office is doing this as a cover to their failure; they want to free up space in the North of England and Scotland to allow them to empty hotels in the South. They hope this will convince their voters they are getting a grip. Out of sight, out of mind is now the entirety of their asylum policy.
“Even at this late stage we can work with the Home Office. They need to do this in a planned and structured way and they need to provide cities with the resources to manage this. The human and financial cost of their current course is simply too much.”
Lottie Winson
