The UK town where migrants move from hotels onto the streets – ‘broken system’

There is a borough in the UK where migrants appear to be leaving asylum hotels in rising numbers only to end up on the streets. Rough sleeper numbers have risen by more than half in Hounslow, with research linking the increase to asylum seekers leaving migrant accommodation. A total of 513 people bedded down on the streets of this part of West London in the year to March. This was up from 336 over the previous 12 month period, figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) show.

The 53% increase represents the largest rise in the proportion and number of all London’s 32 boroughs. Overall, 12,938 people were on the streets of the capital in the year to March. Researchers have linked the rise in Hounslow to “an especially high” number of people found rough sleeping after leaving asylum accommodation.

Franklin Rozier, 59, told the Daily Express he came to the UK on an ancestry visa for Commonwealth citizens in 2019 and is between homes as he waits for his application for British citizenship to be decided. His cousins are sending money to the out of work Anglo-Indian, who said he was thrown on the streets and is not entitled to benefits.

He said: “I’m homeless without a penny… People from other countries are coming here and living on benefits and enjoying themselves, but the real British people [originally from the UK] are not [in Hounslow]. This country has changed.”

Himalaya Rai, 39, from Nepal, said he sleeps rough by choice as he plans to walk the southern stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path and does not want to put down roots.

Mr Rai, who has Indefinite Leave to Remain, was invited to the UK by his father, who he said is a former Gurkha. While living on Hounslow’s streets, Mr Rai said he has met many asylum seekers who arrived in the UK on small boats.

He claimed a lot of them are not genuine asylum seekers, adding: “They come here and expect left-wing people to take care of them.

“Ukrainians, Syrians… they are true asylum seekers. The rest pay a lot of money to come here, but they could [use it to] start a business [in their own countries].”

Charmi Parmar, a Conservative councillor at Hounslow Borough Council, said there is a distinction between hardworking refugees who want to support their families, pay their taxes and contribute to society, and people who come to claim benefits.

She claimed crime in Hounslow has increased due to homeless asylum seekers, although the Met Police said the borough remains a safe place and crime has fallen 15.6% year on year.

Adam Parkins, a Reform UK councillor for Feltham at the western end of the borough, said a “broken” asylum system is costing millions which should be funding local services for residents.

He said: “Worse, Labour’s plan to close asylum hotels and move migrants into HMOs will simply mask the problem, sending unvetted migrants into our community and making the homelessness problem worse.

“Illegal migrants, as well as anyone who had their asylum application turned down, should be deported.”

Fellow Reform councillor, Conrad Brown, said locals in his ward, Feltham, feel increasingly unsafe. He also said crime has been rising in the local area.

He pointed to Home Office statistics which he said show burglaries have risen in the borough while falling in the rest of the UK.

A council spokesperson said the local authority works with others to help people into suitable accommodation and achieve longer-term stability.

Efforts to keep migrants off the streets continue to occupy homeless charities, refugee support groups and the Home Office.

In 2025, a pilot scheme which gave people a grace period of 56 days, instead of 28 days, to find a home outside asylum seeker accommodation before being evicted kept an estimated 1,000 households off the streets. It was decided in March to allow migrants 42 days to find somewhere to live.

Imran Hussain, Director of External Affairs at the Refugee Council, said the figures help show what can work. He said: “Refugees want to stand on their own two feet: find work, pay their way and rebuild their lives. But they need a fair chance to do that.

“The Government should learn from this progress and ensure proper support for new refugees to move on, with a system that works in practice, not just on paper.”

Mr Hussain said refugee homelessness has driven increases in street homelessness in recent years and cautioned the Government against cutting the so-called “move-in period”.

A Home Office spokesperson said CHAIN’s figures do not come from official government data. They added: “We are committed to successfully transitioning refugees from asylum accommodation and mitigating the risk of homelessness. That is why we extended the grace period from 28 days to 42.

“We have returned or deported almost 70,000 people who were here illegally – an increase of 41% on the number of returns recorded in the previous 21-month period.”

The spokesperson pointed to further action on homelessness, including specialist help for people to transition away from asylum accommodation and a £3.6billion over two years to fund services.