Starmer insists ‘lots of housing' available for both homeless and asylum seekers

Independent

21-07-2025

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted there is 'lots of housing available' to accommodate both rising numbers of homeless people and asylum seekers.
The Prime Minister was unable to say specifically where extra housing needed to help homeless families or migrants would come from, as he faced questions about the housing crisis from a group of senior MPs.
The Liaison Committee – which is made up of MPs who chair the various Commons select committees – put it to the Prime Minister that local councils looking to house homeless families were competing with the Home Office, which is seeking to house asylum seekers.
Sir Keir replied: 'I know, which is why I am so furious at the last government for leaving tens of thousands of asylum seekers unprocessed, with nowhere to live, other than accommodation paid for by the taxpayer.'
Dame Meg Hillier, the chairwoman of the Treasury Committee, asked what extra housing the Prime Minister was planning to take over to house homeless families, after saying that the prices of temporary accommodation had been driven up by the need to house both them and asylum seekers.
'Oh, there is lots of housing and many local authorities that can be used, and we're identifying where it can be used,' Sir Keir replied.
Pressed for specific examples, Sir Keir said he would write to the committee.
Dame Meg responded: 'I have to say in a number of our local authorities, picking up from around the table, there isn't a lot of spare housing available
'If there were, then councils would be able to be dealing with it by now.'
The Prime Minister had earlier said the Government had provided new funding to help councils pay for temporary accommodation for homeless people.
He said he was 'impatient' to see it spent and for its impact to be felt.
Sir Keir faced criticism from outside the Liaison Committee for his claim, with Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, writing on social media site X: 'There are 1.3 million people on social housing waiting lists in England alone.
'But Keir Starmer believes there's 'lots of housing' spare we should be giving to illegal migrants
'That's madness. What is he going on about?'
Elsewhere during the committee, Sir Keir defended freezing the local housing allowance, which is used to calculate housing benefit for tenants of private landlords.
Asked if he thought the freeze was the right decision considering the Government's ambitions for tackling child poverty, Sir Keir told the Liaison Committee: 'I defend the decisions we've made.'
He also suggested the decision to freeze the allowance could be revisited at the budget, adding: 'Obviously, we head into the autumn, we will get to another budget and there'll be a chance to look again across the board, but we certainly made the right decision first time around.
'I think I'd also emphasise something I touched on last time, which is, in the end, with housing, we need to build and make available more housing across the board. There simply isn't enough and that means the price goes up.'
The Prime Minister also said he is pressing Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister who is also the Housing Secretary, 'very hard' on building more affordable and social housing.