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

Principal Planner

North Yorkshire Council
£48,738- £53,051 per annum
Are you an experienced planner looking for an opportunity to work on significant, complex and high-profile development Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Principal Planner

North Yorkshire Council
£48,738- £53,051 per annum
Join one England's newest and largest unitary authorities, we're responsible for delivering services Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Principal Planner

North Yorkshire Council
£48,738- £53,051 per annum
Join one England's newest and largest unitary authorities, we're responsible Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Development Management Team Manager

North Yorkshire Council
£53,051 to £57,372 per annum + Relocation Allowance + up to 10% one off recruitment payment
Are you an experienced planning professional looking for your next leadership challenge? Selby, North Yorkshire
Recuriter: North Yorkshire Council

Team Manager

Gloucestershire County Council
£54,143 - £56,293 per annum
You will lead and support a team of Personal Advisers Gloucestershire
Recuriter: Gloucestershire County Council
Linkedin Banner