Telford 'bridging hotel' to shut after permanent accommodation found for Afghan refugee families
Telford and Wrekin's last 'bridging hotel' for asylum seekers will close this week with confirmation that permanent accommodation has been found for all Afghan families in the borough seeking shelter.
Around 8,000 Afghans have been housed in hotels across the country since they were evacuated from Afghanistan when the Taliban regained power two years ago today - including families in Telford & Wrekin.
In April, the Government served notice to resettled Afghans in hotels to leave the temporary accommodation by the end of August and gave funding to local authorities to assist in finding permanent accommodation.
Now, Telford & Wrekin Council has confirmed accommodation has been found for all Afghan families placed in the borough.
Councillor Kelly Middleton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for healthy, safer and stronger communities and partnerships, said: “At Telford & Wrekin Council we’ve been working hard to offer housing to families placed in bridging hotels locally by the Home Office.
"As of this Friday, we will have successfully provided permanent accommodation to all Afghan families placed in Telford, and the Home Office’s last bridging hotel in the borough will close.”
The authority has so far helped support 325 people from Afghanistan to settle into life in the UK.
The Government says the resettlement project was "the right thing to do for the taxpayer and for Afghans" with hotels being an inappropriate long-term home.
A Government spokesperson said: “Hotels are not, and were never designed to be, long-term accommodation for Afghans resettled in the UK and it is not in their best interests to be living in hotel accommodation for months or years on end.
“We have worked closely with local authorities and NGOs on the hotel departures, and we are all in agreement this is the right thing to do for the taxpayer and Afghans.
"We've seen good progress with Afghans leaving hotels, with 10,500 Afghans so far provided with homes.
"We will continue to provide extensive support to all those in hotels, backed by £285 million of new funding to speed up the resettlement of Afghans into permanent accommodation, with many councils using this to provide deposits, furniture, rental top-ups and rent advances, among others.”
