Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with local authorities to move refugees from Afghanistan who have been in hotels for longer than year into alternative accommodation.

There is a significant effort underway to support the families into permanent homes as soon as we can so they can settle and rebuild their lives. We remain committed to matching evacuees to suitable settled accommodation and continue to work collaboratively alongside around 350 local authorities, government departments and other partners to meet the demand for housing.

In addition, many families have, in recent months, taken steps to secure their own accommodation through the Find Your Own Accommodation scheme which opened on 29 June and empowers Afghan families to source their own accommodation. We are also looking at ways to make more suitable homes available in the private rented sector, and exploring alternatives to hotels for families who may have to remain in bridging accommodation for long periods.

The length of time that a family will remain in bridging hotels is dependent on the availability of appropriate housing. The demographic complexity of the Afghan cohort, coupled with a shortage in supply of appropriate housing and reliance on local authorities to bring forth property pledges means that this remains challenging. We encourage families to accept appropriate properties as quickly as possible and urge local authorities to continue to do all they can to help house people.