Plans to house UK asylum seekers in barracks are costly and complicated, experts say

"The Home Office has confirmed that two barracks: Cameron in Inverness and Crowborough training camp in East Sussex, will be used to house about 900 men temporarily. Officials are working to identify more sites. The two sites were used to accommodate Afghan families evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 while they were resettled elsewhere. That process ended earlier this year."

"The plans released overnight by the Home Office to house 10,000 people seeking asylum on military sites are fanciful, too expensive and too logistically difficult, he said. The government could end the use of hotels next year, without resorting to camps, by putting in place a one-off scheme that would give permission to stay for a limited period subject to rigorous security checks to people from countries almost certain to be recognised as refugees."

"The chief executive of Care4Calais, Steve Smith, said Labour was breaking its promise to end the use of barracks to house refugees, exposing the taxpayer to soaring costs. Opening more camps will only serve to re-traumatise more people who have already survived horrors such as war and torture. And, as the National Audit Office has outlined in respect of Wethersfield and the aborted project at Scampton, they cost more than the hotels they seek to replace"

Plans call for two barracks — Cameron in Inverness and Crowborough training camp in East Sussex — to house about 900 men temporarily, with officials seeking additional disused military sites. The two sites previously accommodated evacuated Afghan families after the 2021 Kabul withdrawal and that process ended earlier this year. Officials say the initial 900 could be the first of up to 10,000 asylum seekers to be placed on military sites while the Home Office works with the Ministry of Defence. Refugee organisations and advocacy groups describe the proposals as fanciful, expensive, logistically difficult and likely to re-traumatise vulnerable people. The National Audit Office has found some military-site projects can cost more than hotels. An alternative one-off scheme granting limited permission to stay to applicants from countries likely to receive refugee status has been proposed to reduce hotel use.

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