Families staying at a London hotel have been moved to other accommodation after the Home Office closed asylum hotels, prompting legal challenges over whether the government assessed people’s individual needs before relocations. Get today's headlines by email Staycity closure and relocation planHuda, 41, and her two children, aged 10 and 12, had lived in two rooms in a London hotel for six months before being told they would be moved with a few days’ notice. The engineering graduate from Tunisia said she fled death threats from extended family and is awaiting a decision while her asylum application is processed. The Home Office said Staycity—the hotel where the family was staying—would close as part of a government pledge to move asylum seekers out of hotels and into military barracks or other shared housing. The shift followed protests by anti-migrant campaigners, who argued that hotels were too comfortable to host asylum seekers. On 25 June, the Home Office announced the closure of 20 hotels, after an earlier announcement this year that shut 11 asylum hotels. Under the plan, people affected by closures may be transferred to other hotels with vacancies, moved to military barracks, or granted asylum. Court order questions assessment of accommodation adequacyLegal challenges have been brought on behalf of some residents at the Staycity site. Claimants say the Home Office failed to evaluate individual vulnerabilities before people were relocated. A court order issued by John Halford, sitting as a deputy high court judge, said it was “arguable” the home secretary did not consider the “adequacy” of accommodation asylum seekers were being moved to from Staycity. Huda’s daughter uses a wheelchair and has epilepsy and a heart condition. Huda said her daughter’s medical supplies take up almost an entire room, leaving little space for other essentials. Reported impact on healthcare and living conditionsHuda said the family spent much of the day waiting in the hotel reception for transport. She said they waited from 10am to 7pm before being taken to a new location. She said the new accommodation was significantly worse. Huda claimed her daughter is sleeping on the floor because she is afraid of a bunk bed, and that the space is so cramped there is nowhere to cook for the children. She also said the room in the new hotel is too small, adding that she has to change her daughter’s nappies in a corridor. Huda said her daughter’s medicine needs to be kept in a fridge but that no fridge was available in the new room. “I’m worried I won’t be able to keep her alive,” she said. A solicitor, Ralitsa Peykova of Deighton Pierce Glynn, said the legal proceedings were necessary because clients were being moved from one hotel to another without what she described as an evaluative assessment of their needs. She said the closures created “complete chaos” and wasted taxpayers’ money. Chloe White, executive director of Action for Refugees in Lewisham, supported families relocated from Staycity. She said that despite the Home Office’s assurances that increased hotel closures were going well, “the reality on the ground is very different” and families faced a high “human cost”. Other cases cited, including moves before examsAnother asylum seeker at Staycity, Farhad, said he was given a Post-it note telling him he would be moved the next day, without an explanation. He said he was a victim of trafficking, torture and labour exploitation and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. He also said he believes people’s suffering is not considered, including a claim that one resident receiving chemotherapy was moved away from the hospital where treatment was ongoing. A separate legal challenge, the article says, involves a mother moving with her sons to Aberdeen, about 549 miles away, two days before one child’s A-level exams. Claimants say they are upset about disruption to the boys’ education. Home Office responseA Home Office spokesperson said: “This government will close every asylum hotel, and work is well under way to move asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation.” The spokesperson added that the welfare of asylum seekers remains a priority and said the department would work with providers to meet additional needs and minimise disruption wherever possible. Join the discussion? 14 July 2026
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