Asylum seekers could be moved into warehouses instead of hotels, Yvette Cooper has suggested.
The home secretary said that the government was considering industrial and military sites to house asylum seekers under plans to reduce the number of migrant hotels.
In an interview with LBC on Tuesday morning, Ms Cooper said that warehouses were “one of the things that’s been looked at”. She added that the Home Office would provide updates “when we’ve got the practical plans”, but said that they were exploring “alternative sites, more appropriate sites, including looking at military and industrial sites as well”.
Labour have committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by 2029 but they are under pressure to move faster after a number of violent protests outside sites across the country.
The demonstrations started outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after a resident was charged with alleged sexual assault. Epping Forest District Council won a temporary injunction against the hotel’s use from the High Court, only for the order to be overturned by the Court of Appeal last week.
Court of Appeal judges ruled that the closure of the 152-bed hotel would have “obvious consequences” on the government’s duty to house asylum seekers.
There are more than 32,000 asylum seekers living in hotels, government data from June 2025 says. While the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels is up eight per cent year-on-year, the numbers have been consistently falling since December last year.
The number of people in hotels - 32,059 - is also significantly lower than the peak of over 56,000 under the Tory government in September 2023.
However the rising number of small boat crossings in 2025 is also putting pressure on accommodation, with Channel crossings set to reach a record high if trends continue.
Sir Keir Starmer told cabinet ministers on Tuesday that there was a need to “go further and faster” on tackling migration. A Downing Street spokesperson said that Sir Keir understood “the frustration people feel at the level of illegal crossings and the site of asylum hotels in their communities”.
The prime minister will be holding a further ministerial meeting on Tuesday afternoon “to consider how we can go further and faster to combat illegal crossings”, the spokesperson said.
Care minister Steven Kinnock said last week that the government was exploring a “whole range of options” beyond hotels to house asylum seekers. He said these included “disused warehouses, disused office blocks, disused military barracks.”.
According to the Home Office, asylum hotels are costing the department around £5.77m per day to run, down from £8.3m per day the previous year.
Reform-led council takes first steps towards planning action over asylum hotels
Foreign students claiming asylum in UK: Key numbers and trends
Cooper denies Reeves being ‘sidelined’ after No 10 shake-up
Cooper attacks Farage and Badenoch’s migrant crackdown calls
Video: Moment activist clutching dog scales London station in Iran protest
Lager on the rocks? Gen Z’s iced beer habit leaves traditionalists cold
