(MENAFN) A parliamentary committee has sharply condemned the Home Office for wasting billions of dollars of public funds on housing asylum seekers, saying the department’s reliance on hotels as a default solution revealed “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery.”

The Home Affairs Committee reported that expected costs for asylum accommodation have surged from $5.8 billion in 2019 to over $19.2 billion between 2019 and 2029. Two accommodation providers still owe millions in excess profits that the Home Office has yet to recover. “Failures of leadership at a senior level” were cited as reasons the department was “incapable of getting a grip on the situation,” according to the report.

Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the committee, criticized the Home Office for neglecting day-to-day contract management and focusing on short-term reactive measures. External pressures, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a dramatic rise in small boat arrivals, forced the department to house more people for longer periods. Decisions by the previous Conservative government, such as delaying asylum decisions while pursuing deportations to Rwanda, compounded the challenges.

The report also highlighted repeated cases of inadequate housing and unresolved safeguarding concerns affecting vulnerable asylum seekers.

In response, a Home Office spokesperson said, “We have already taken action—closing hotels, cutting asylum costs by nearly $1.28 billion, and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”

Protests over asylum hotels have occurred across the UK this year, including in Epping after an asylum seeker housed at The Bell Hotel was charged with two sexual assaults.

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