Birmingham Local Conservatives are intensifying their call for the Home Office to cease all asylum accommodation placements in the city, including both hotels and dispersed housing such as Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). The group has already taken action, with Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Bruce Lines, writing to the Home Office to demand an immediate stop to these placements due to the unsustainable strain on Birmingham’s communities and public services. Following a High Court ruling following a challenge to an asylum hotel by Epping Council, the Birmingham Local Conservatives are now urging Birmingham City Council to pursue a High Court injunction to enforce this halt if the Home Office fails to comply.
Birmingham is at a breaking point. The city faces a housing crisis with 23,000 residents on the housing waiting list, 4,500 households with children in temporary accommodation, and fewer than one in three social homes meeting the Decent Homes Standard. Public services, including healthcare, policing, and schools, are stretched to capacity, while council front-line services face cuts. The continued placement of asylum seekers in Birmingham, whether in hotels or HMOs, risks exacerbating these challenges, increasing community tensions, and failing to provide adequate support for both residents and asylum seekers.
Serious incidents linked to asylum accommodation have heightened local concerns, including crimes committed by individuals housed in the city and fraudulent misuse of asylum-related funds. Residents have also reported inappropriate behaviour near schools and leisure centres, underscoring the unsuitability of Birmingham as a location for further asylum placements without proper consultation or integration plans.
Cllr Bruce Lines (Con Bartley Green), Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing & homelessness, said:
Birmingham cannot sustain further asylum placements. Our housing and public services are already overwhelmed, and adding more pressure risks the well-being of our communities and those seeking asylum. The Home Office must stop these placements immediately, and if they refuse, the Council must take decisive legal action to protect our City and enable us to meet our other legal and moral duties to house our residents safely.
Whilst the ruling in Epping is specific to local circumstances there, Birmingham Local Conservatives believe that the Council in Birmingham should follow a similar approach to putting local residents first and that the present system of asylum placements prevents the council from being able to meet its lawful duties.
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition & Birmingham Local Conservatives, added:
The Home Office’s approach to asylum accommodation in Birmingham is neither safe nor sustainable. It also hinders the council’s ability to house Brummies on the waiting list. We’ve made it clear through our letter that these placements, in hotels and converted family housing, must end, and we’re calling on the council to back this with the full force of the courts if needed. Birmingham residents deserve better, and asylum claims should ideally be done in offshore locations, such as with the Rwanda scheme so naively abandoned by the Labour government.
Cllr Ken Wood (Con, Sutton Walmley & Minworth) said:
I am completely in agreement with our MP, Andrew Mitchell, in that Ramada should never have been deemed a suitable residence in the first place. It's a remote location, and those staying there would be much better served closer to the support they require. We also need reassurance that if it were to close, that it would not result in increased pressure on the housing shortage we currently have across the City, nor lead to an increase in HMOs and Supported Housing.
By pursuing an injunction, Birmingham City Council could:
· Halt all asylum accommodation placements, including hotels and HMOs.
· Protect family neighbourhoods from further strain.
· Prioritise the needs of Birmingham residents and safeguard overstretched public services.
