Government plans to phase out the use of asylum hotels could make a number of refugees and migrants homeless, a local charity has warned.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons on Tuesday that Downing Street had written to MPs and councils to inform them of plans to "exit" the first hotels.
The controversial policy saw the Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe and the Holiday Inn Express in Hellesdon taken over by the Home Office to temporarily house people seeking asylum.
But New Routes Integration - a Norwich-based charity that has been providing support to those living in the hotels - has warned the policy U-turn could create issues further down the line.
"We have concerns this could result in many hotel residents becoming homeless," Gee Cook, chief executive of the organisation said.
"We are already seeing this at New Routes on a daily basis.
READ MORE: City MP slams 'unfair' policy as government moves to end refugee hotels
"Just because the government is saying that it will reduce the number of asylum hotels that it is paying for does not mean that the same amount of people don’t need to be housed in an appropriate manner.
"Many refugees and asylum seekers, by their very nature, have faced trauma whilst fleeing persecution.
READ MORE: What is life like for asylum seekers in Norwich's hotels?
"This decision has the potential to further traumatise vulnerable groups of people."
The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils “share the government’s ambitions to end hotel use for asylum seekers” but added that greater demand combined with an “acute” housing shortage means it will be “extremely challenging” for those leaving Home Office-funded accommodation to find an affordable, long-term place to stay.
The LGA also warned a "dramatic increase" in the number of homeless asylum seekers could push councils - which are legally obliged to find somewhere for homeless refugees to stay - into further financial difficulty.
Shaun Davies, chairman of the LGA, said: “The deep irony is that it might be the same hotels that the Government are looking to close down for their purposes are the very same hotels that local authorities will have to stand up and fund for temporary accommodation.”
On these concerns, the immigration minister said the government was "standing up cheaper and more appropriate forms of accommodation - instead of being housed in sometimes luxurious hotels, asylum seekers will be housed in disused military sites and barges like in Portland".
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