Asylum seekers 'not being put up in Coventry hotels paid for by the council'

[dutchman]

Asylum seekers are not being homed in Coventry hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation according to the Labour councillor responsible for homelessness.

Coun Faye Abbott clarified the situation during the full meeting of Coventry City Council on Tuesday after Tory Coun Jaswant Birdi raised concerns from residents about who the council was paying to accommodate.

However, Coun Abbott said the council was funding B&B and hotel accommodation for some homeless people in the city.

She said: “We do, on occasion, use bed and breakfast accommodation. One location we use is Allesley Hotel for families that do not have accommodation or a roof over their heads for the night.”

Coun Abbott also hit out what she perceived to be at an implied link from Coun Birdi between the people being housed in B&B accommodation and an increase in crime in the areas where they were living.

She said: “If you are asking if we house asylum seekers in the hotel, no we don’t because the responsibility for housing asylum seekers lies with G4S.

“To the best of my knowledge, they do not use hotels in Coventry for that at the moment.

“You can’t say, just because we’re putting vulnerable individuals in these hotels, there’s a link between that and crime rate in the area without any evidence.”

Conservative Coun Gary Crookes asked if criminals on bail were sharing accommodation with those housed by the council.

He said: “Are we putting vulnerable people at risk by putting them in the same environment as other people?”

Coun Abbott said she would check on the situation, but she did not believe that was the case.

She said: “Not that I’m aware. We have other accommodation in the city where people released from prison normally go to.”