“Government has ignored my repeated warnings over asylum seeker housing crisis”, says Simon Danczuk

Photo: Journeaux

Simon Danczuk

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has criticised the Government for ignoring his repeated warnings over asylum seeker housing after a BBC report revealed the system is “in crisis”.

According to Radio 4’s Today Programme, the private companies responsible for dispersing asylum seekers in the UK are “on the brink of collapse” due to a lack of available housing.

The revelation comes after a Home Affairs Select Committee report criticised council areas which refuse to take in asylum seekers while towns like Rochdale house more than 1,000.

The Home Office awarded companies G4S, Serco and Clearspings contracts to find housing for asylum seekers in 2012.

The number arriving in the UK has risen every year since then, including 32,000 new asylum seekers last year (an increase of 30% from 2014).

Staff with all three companies have said they are struggling to find new houses because some local authorities, mostly in affluent areas, refuse to accept asylum seekers. They have called for the Government to force councils to do their fair share.

Mr Danczuk raised the issue during Prime Minister's Questions back in March 2015, and has called for the system to be reformed during several House of Commons debates.

He has also written repeatedly to Immigration Minister James Brokenshire calling for more to be done to spread the burden of housing asylum seekers.

Mr Danczuk said: “I am pleased the Home Affairs Select Committee and others have picked up on an issue that I have been campaigning on for a couple of years.

“This is a sensitive topic that many would prefer to avoid altogether, but I have refused to stay quiet as Rochdale does so much while Tory shires in the South do nothing.

“The current system is not sustainable. According to the latest figures one in every 204 Rochdale residents is an asylum seeker.

“If the Government forced all areas to take an equal share, as I have called for numerous times, it would ease pressure on services and allow us to offer more support to those that are vulnerable.

“Now this is becoming a mainstream issue, I will continue my efforts to force the Government into holding a House of Commons debate on the topic.”