Is the government ‘opening up’ asylum hotels?

This morning, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme [1:38:46], shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly claimed: “[Labour] are opening up asylum hotels, they are increasing the use of asylum accommodation around the country”.

It is true that under Labour the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has increased, as our Government Tracker explains. According to the latest available data, 32,345 asylum seekers were housed in hotels at the end of March 2025, up from 29,585 at the end of June 2024, just before Labour came into office.

The data also showed that there were 71,339 asylum seekers living in other types of non-hotel accommodation at the end of March 2025, compared to 67,057 at the end of June 2024. The majority of these were in “dispersal accommodation”, which is longer-term temporary accommodation managed by providers on behalf of the Home Office, with others housed in “initial accommodation”, which is typically shared accommodation while an asylum seeker is having their claim for support assessed.

The Home Office told us that 210 asylum hotels are currently in use, and that they expected more to close. On 3 March 2025, Dame Angela Eagle MP, minister for border security and asylum, said that in July 2024 there were 213 hotels in operation, suggesting the number of hotels in use is currently slightly lower than when Labour first came into office.

According to the Home Office’s latest accounts, “the total number of contracted hotels reduced by 71 across 2024-25”, although it did not specify an exact figure, and this time period also includes figures from when the Conservatives were in office.

It’s worth noting however that while the overall number of hotels in use appears to have come down slightly, there have been recent reports of new hotels being intended to house asylum seekers. It’s possible this is what Mr Cleverly meant when he said Labour was “opening up” hotels.

We’ve contacted Mr Cleverly for comment.