Britain’s Asylum Seeker Hotspots MAPPED: The Areas Housing 1,000+ Migrants
Britain’s asylum accommodation system is once again at the centre of a fierce political debate, with questions being raised over where asylum seekers are being housed and whether some communities are carrying a disproportionately large share of the responsibility.
The issue has become increasingly sensitive as the Government attempts to reduce its reliance on expensive hotels while moving asylum seekers into alternative forms of accommodation. At the same time, ministers are facing pressure from councils and residents who want greater transparency about how accommodation decisions are made.
A detailed look at the available figures shows that the distribution is far from even. Some local authorities have accommodated more than 1,000 asylum seekers in hotels, while others have had very few or none.
However, it is important to distinguish between asylum seekers receiving government support generally and those specifically being housed in hotels. The figures are not interchangeable.
The latest national statistics available from the Home Office show that, at the end of March 2026, 97,519 people were receiving asylum support in the UK. Of those, 48,758 were awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claim, meaning that a substantial proportion of people receiving support were at other stages of the asylum process.
The number being housed in hotels was considerably smaller.
At the end of March 2026, 20,885 asylum seekers were living in hotels, representing around 21 per cent of people receiving asylum support. That figure was already significantly below the levels seen during the height of the hotel accommodation crisis.
The Government has been attempting to bring that number down further.
The areas that have housed more than 1,000 people
The most detailed council-level figures publicly reported in recent data showed several authorities with more than 1,000 asylum seekers accommodated in hotels.
Hillingdon in west London was the largest concentration in that dataset, with 2,238 asylum seekers staying in hotels as of June 2025.
It was followed by Hounslow, also in west London, where 1,536 people were reported to be living in asylum hotels.
Outside London, Manchester was the largest hotspot in the same data, with 1,158 asylum seekers accommodated in hotels.
These numbers help explain why the issue has become politically contentious. In some areas, the number of people in hotel accommodation can represent a substantial population concentrated within a relatively small number of properties.
But they should not be interpreted as showing that these councils are necessarily home to that number of asylum seekers today. Hotel accommodation changes frequently as people are moved, claims are decided and hotels are closed.
The figures are also not a complete measure of asylum accommodation in a particular local authority because asylum seekers may be housed in hotels, houses, flats, hostels, former military facilities and other forms of accommodation.
Hillingdon: the biggest hotel concentration
Hillingdon stands out in the available council-level figures.
With more than 2,200 asylum seekers reported in hotels, the west London borough had the highest number in the June 2025 data.
Its location is significant.
Hillingdon contains Heathrow Airport and has extensive transport links with London and the surrounding region. London has historically played an important role in migration and asylum accommodation, although the dispersal system has increasingly moved asylum seekers into other parts of the country.
The presence of a large number of hotels also provides the Home Office and accommodation providers with potential contingency accommodation capacity.
Yet the concentration of people in hotels can create political difficulties.
Residents may question why particular areas appear to have a much larger accommodation burden than others. Local authorities can also face pressure relating to housing, public services and community relations.
These concerns have become especially important as the Government attempts to move away from hotels.
Hounslow: another major London hotspot
Hounslow was the second-largest local authority in the June 2025 hotel figures, with 1,536 asylum seekers accommodated there.
Like Hillingdon, Hounslow is in west London and has a large supply of hotels and excellent transport connections.
The figures illustrate a broader feature of asylum accommodation: placement is not simply determined by where people originally arrive in Britain.
The Home Office operates a dispersal system designed to move people receiving asylum support away from areas such as central London and the South East and into accommodation elsewhere in the UK.
However, hotel accommodation has created a different geographical pattern because hotels can be used as temporary or contingency accommodation when the normal dispersal system does not have sufficient capacity.
That means a local authority can suddenly become home to a large number of asylum seekers even though it may not have traditionally been one of the main dispersal areas.
Manchester: the largest hotspot outside London
Manchester recorded 1,158 asylum seekers in hotels in the June 2025 figures, making it the largest non-London local authority in that dataset.
The city has long been an important destination within Britain’s dispersal accommodation system.
More broadly, asylum accommodation is concentrated in parts of northern England, the Midlands, the South West, Wales and Scotland. The Migration Observatory has noted that dispersal accommodation is much more common in these areas than in the South of England or London.
That geographical pattern helps explain why the debate over “fair shares” has become increasingly prominent.
Some politicians argue that poorer communities have historically carried too much of the accommodation burden. Others argue that asylum seekers should be distributed according to available housing, infrastructure and local capacity rather than simply according to population.
The numbers are falling — but the debate is not disappearing
One of the most important developments is that the number of asylum seekers requiring accommodation support has been falling.
Between March 2023 and March 2026, the number requiring accommodation support declined from approximately 112,000 to 98,000, a fall of around 13 per cent. Over the same period, the proportion housed in hotels dropped from 42 per cent to 21 per cent.
That is a significant change.
The number of asylum seekers in hotels peaked at around 56,000 in September 2023. By March 2026, it had fallen to just under 21,000.
Nevertheless, the Government still faces a substantial accommodation bill.
The Public Accounts Committee reported that asylum support costs reached around £4 billion in 2024-25, with hotel accommodation a major driver of expenditure. The committee also warned that the Home Office did not yet have a credible long-term strategy for asylum accommodation and criticised the limited role given to local authorities in accommodation decisions.
This is why ministers are seeking alternatives to hotels.
From hotels to military sites and houses
The Government’s strategy increasingly involves moving people out of hotels and into other forms of accommodation.
Former military sites have become one controversial option.
Recent plans involve three former military locations — Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire — which together could accommodate around 3,750 asylum seekers. The proposals have generated strong opposition in some local communities, particularly where residents believe the number of people being accommodated would be large compared with the size of nearby villages.
The Government argues that large, purpose-adapted sites can provide a more controlled and potentially cheaper alternative to hotels.
Critics, however, question whether concentrating large numbers of asylum seekers in relatively small communities simply moves the problem from one form of accommodation to another.
There is also growing controversy surrounding houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs.
Recent unrest in Thetford followed local opposition to plans connected with asylum accommodation, illustrating how quickly tensions can escalate when communities believe they have not been properly informed or consulted.
Why some areas have far fewer asylum seekers
The distribution of asylum accommodation is not uniform.
Some councils have historically accommodated substantial numbers through the dispersal system, while others have had relatively few people receiving asylum support.
That has fuelled a political argument over whether the system is genuinely fair.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has argued that more affluent and middle-class areas should share responsibility rather than leaving accommodation disproportionately concentrated in poorer communities. Recent government proposals have therefore intensified a debate that goes beyond migration policy and into questions about housing, local democracy and social inequality.
Supporters of wider dispersal argue that a national asylum system should not place disproportionate pressure on a limited number of towns and cities.
Opponents respond that accommodation should be located where suitable housing and services actually exist, rather than being imposed according to an arbitrary geographical formula.
Both sides face practical challenges.
A changing map
Britain’s asylum accommodation map is changing rapidly.
The number of people in hotels is falling, but that does not mean the underlying accommodation challenge has disappeared. Instead, people are increasingly being moved into dispersed housing, HMOs and larger sites.
The Government has also been closing asylum hotels. By August 2026, 44 hotels had reportedly been closed during the year, as ministers sought to reduce reliance on temporary accommodation.
That means yesterday’s hotspot may not necessarily be today’s hotspot.
For this reason, council-level figures should always be treated as snapshots rather than permanent rankings.
What remains clear is that Britain’s asylum accommodation system is undergoing a major transformation.
The national numbers are coming down, particularly in hotels. Yet the political controversy is moving with the people being accommodated.
The central question is now becoming one of where responsibility should fall.
Should large cities such as Manchester continue to accommodate significant numbers because they have established dispersal systems and infrastructure? Should more affluent parts of southern England take a greater share? Should the Government rely on large former military sites? Or should smaller numbers be distributed more widely through existing housing?
There is no simple answer.
What the figures do show is that the asylum accommodation burden has never been evenly distributed across Britain. Some councils have accommodated thousands of people while others have had comparatively few.
At the same time, the overall number receiving asylum support is now lower than it was three years ago, and hotel use has fallen dramatically from its 2023 peak.
The political argument, however, is likely to continue.
For local residents, the issue is often about the impact on their own communities and public services. For asylum seekers, accommodation decisions can determine where they live for months or even years while their claims are processed. And for the Government, every additional hotel room represents a significant financial cost.
The challenge for ministers is therefore not simply to reduce the headline number.
It is to create an accommodation system that is financially sustainable, geographically fair, transparent to local communities and humane for the people living within it.
Until that balance is achieved, Britain’s asylum hotspots will remain a major political flashpoint — even as the map itself continues to change.
