Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan refugees who were not made offers of alternative housing were made homeless following the closure of hotel accommodation in each local authority in Wales.

All 55 hotels being used to house around 8,000 Afghans at the end of March were no longer being used as bridging accommodation by 31 August.

The UK Government has granted all Afghans relocated through safe and legal routes with Indefinite Leave to Remain, including the immediate right to work, alongside access to the benefits system and vital health, education, and employment support.

On top of this the Government made available £35m of new funding to enable Local Authorities to provide increased support for Afghan households to move from hotels into settled accommodation.

The monitoring of Homelessness duties owed to this cohort is the responsibility of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

DLUHC has been gathering survey data from local authorities in England on homelessness duties owed to Afghans leaving bridging accommodation. This data has been published in the Homelessness management information – Afghan nationals: England.

In summary the total number of Afghan households in this cohort in temporary accommodation under a homelessness duty in England as of 31 August was 188.

This is based on a voluntary survey to local authorities in England with a 74% response rate, of which 35% of local authorities had reported owing homelessness duties to Afghan households leaving bridging accommodation.

DLUHC will continue to monitor homelessness duties to this cohort going forwards and the Home Office will continue to publish statistics on resettlement schemes in the usual way.

The information requested for each local authority in Wales is not currently available. The following operational data published by the Home Office may be of interest: Afghan bridging hotel exit operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)