Mark Whitehead 22 June 2023

Manchester leaders call for urgent action on asylum seeker hotels

Manchester leaders call for urgent action on asylum seeker hotels image
Image: Dragon Claws/Shutterstock

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, his deputy Kate Green and 10 council leaders are calling for urgent action to house asylum seekers and refugees who have been given notice to move out of hotels.

Four of the hotels are in the Greater Manchester region and residents have started receiving 90-day notices to leave.

Demands in a letter to home secretary Suella Braverman and levelling up secretary Michael Gove include a call for the notice period to be extended and a funding package for local authorities that can be spent flexibly across homelessness, language teaching, schools and integration and employment support.

They say: 'We are proud to welcome people seeking asylum and refugees to our city region, to celebrate all of our diverse communities and to work together to ensure that they can thrive.

'In Greater Manchester, we will continue to do so and we condemn recent divisive rhetoric which misrepresents international obligations to people seeking asylum and mischaracterises people seeking sanctuary on our shores because of how they arrive.'

The Government says it is committed to speeding up asylum processing, offering protection to those who need it and reducing costs to the public purse.

A spokesman said: 'We want to help rebuild lives here in the UK while ensuring local councils are supported to deliver different housing needs for people in the areas that they call home.

'That is why we are giving councils across Greater Manchester more than £23m over the next two years to prevent homelessness - this can be used to work with landlords to provide temporary accommodation or find new housing.'

SIGN UP
For your free daily news bulletin
Highways jobs

StreetScene Deputy Operations Manager

East Devon District Council
£44,075 - £51,356 per year
If you’re someone who thrives on variety, loves being out and about... East Devon
Recuriter: East Devon District Council

Adults Social Worker - Neighbourhood Team

Essex County Council
£38487 - £51834 per annum + Flexible Working, Hybrid Working
We welcome applications from Experienced and Newly Qualified Social Worker's (NQSW). The starting salary for a NQSW is £36,124 per annum, rising to £ England, Essex, Harlow
Recuriter: Essex County Council

Road Safety Engineer

North Yorkshire Council
£38,220 - £42,839 per annum
We are recruiting Engineers to join our growing Traffic Engineering team. Skipton, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Road Safety Engineer

North Yorkshire Council
£38,220 - £42,839 per annum
The post holder will be based out of County Hall in Northallerton but there will be regular travel county wide as well as homeworking. Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Road Safety Engineer

North Yorkshire Council
£38,220 - £42,839 per annum
The post holder will be based out of County Hall in Northallerton but there will be regular travel county wide as well as homeworking. Selby, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council
Linkedin Banner