UK moves about 900 asylum seekers from hotels to military sites

The Home Office confirmed on Monday that it will temporarily move about 900 men from hotels to two military sites, as ministers accelerate plans to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation. Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex will take the first group while officials identify further sites, with ministers considering military, industrial, temporary and disused accommodation to reduce reliance on hotel contracts.

Both barracks were used earlier to accommodate evacuated Afghan families in 2021 and were vacated this year. The initial moves follow a government commitment to close hotels housing asylum seekers; officials have offered different timetables for that goal, citing targets linked both to the next general election and to a 2029 deadline in various statements. A Home Office spokesperson said the department was "furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels" and that it would close every asylum hotel, adding that work was under way to bring forward suitable alternative sites.

The shift aims to reduce costs and ease pressure on communities after a Commons committee described the hotel system as failed, chaotic and...