We provided comment for the Professional Social Work magazine (PSW), November 2025. This is what we had to say about people seeking asylum being housed in inadequate, private-profit-driven, hotels:
At Social Workers Without Borders we speak to lots of social workers from across the UK. Over the past few years social workers have been sharing experiences related to people housed in asylum hotels and rising anti-migration violence. This has included social workers having to make emergency accommodation moves for unaccompanied children who have been living in places where riots have happened and whose safety is threatened by this violent eruption. We have received numerous accounts from social workers having to bring children into care from adult asylum hotels due to children being assessed as adults at the border, for example one social worker told us:
“As a social worker who has spent significant time in Home Office funded asylum hotels, I’ve witnessed first-hand how dehumanising these environments can be. People stripped of individuality, wearing identical clothing, eating basic food of poor quality, and sharing cramped rooms with strangers. The atmosphere is institutional and detached, with staff sitting behind desks, rarely interacting beyond admin tasks; many don’t even know residents’ names. I’ve attended to support potential children mistakenly placed within adult hotels and have been met with resistance from hotel staff when raising safeguarding concerns. I’ve found young people in visible distress, crying and unsupported, while those responsible for their welfare (hotel staff) looked on with minimal action.
For local authority social workers these situations present significant practical and ethical challenges. We are asked to practice in systems that feel inherently at odds with our professional values of dignity, humanity and protection. It is incredibly difficult to safeguard effectively or uphold rights when the very environment people are placed in undermines safety and wellbeing. In my experience, of working with unaccompanied children, children who have been wrongly placed in adult hotels are coming into care having already been deeply traumatised by the UK’s asylum system, this can make it really difficult for them to go on to build a safe and trusting relationship with their social worker and other professionals.”
It is clear that asylum hotels are wholly inadequate. Rhetoric from politicians and sections of the media about asylum-seekers living in ‘luxurious hotels’ is misinformation. This is irresponsible and dangerous, and is fueling anti-migration legitimisation of racism.
We can all agree that housing people in hotels is not the answer. Right-wing commentators are calling for solutions that would be even more dehumanising and segregated! Instead, we need the Home Office to stop transferring vast sums of public funds to private companies who are providing a substandard service. We are calling for Local Authorities to be properly funded and enabled to provide safe, adequate, social housing. Everyone having their basic need for safety and dignity met is essential for the promotion of community cohesion.
