Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been evicted under the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 or otherwise made homeless as a result of his Department's actions in each of the last eight years.

The Home Office does not hold the information which you have requested. The Home Office does not take eviction action against illegal migrants. The 2016 Act provided new powers of eviction for landlords based upon the tenant’s immigration status, however, the Home Office neither requires landlords to evict nor that they should report back to the Home Office.

A full evaluation of the impacts of the Right to Rent scheme, published in October 2015 found no increase in levels of homelessness. The Home Office works closely with local authorities and is not aware of cases presenting as homeless as a consequence of the scheme. In cases where the migrants are vulnerable or face a genuine obstacle to leaving the country, the Home Office can grant permission to rent. In such cases, the landlord has a statutory excuse against any civil penalty.