Landlords to make £750m profits from taxpayer for housing asylum seekers

Landlords to make £750m profits from taxpayer for housing asylum seekers



Posted by theipaper

9 comments

  1. Companies receiving taxpayer’s money to house asylum seekers are set to make more than £750m in profits, *The i Paper* can reveal.

    The huge sums made by the three firms Serco, Clearsprings and [Mears ](https://inews.co.uk/news/rodents-mould-cockroaches-asylum-homes-taxpayers-1bn-3439182?ico=in-line_link)will reignite outrage at the burgeoning cost to the taxpayer of the Government’s asylum policy. Recent disclosures showed that the Home Office will spend £2.2bn of overseas aid money over the next year on housing asylum seekers in hotels.

    Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged at the spending review on Wednesday to end costly hotel usage by the end of the current parliament in 2029 as [ministers try and use ](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/home-office-talks-asylum-seekers-hotels-empty-tower-blocks-3741880?ico=in-line_link)alternative asylum accommodation.

    In 2019, the three companies were given contracts by the then Conservative government worth an expected £4.5bn to provide asylum accommodation across the UK over a 10-year period, in residential properties and hotels. But since these deals were signed the large increase in asylum seekers arriving in the country has seen the firms earn bumper profits.

    Last month, government watchdog the National Audit Office revealed the three companies are now set to be paid £15.3bn in revenue from the contracts, but it did not disclose the scale of the projected profits.

    Using [Home Office](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/home-office-tagging-asylum-seekers-did-not-work-3479291?ico=in-line_link) financial forecasts and analysis of public declared profit margins on these contracts, *The i Paper* has calculated the pure profit from these deals could exceed £750m.

    The growth has even catapulted Clearsprings’ owner Graham King, dubbed the “Migrant hotel King” by critics, onto the *Sunday Times* Rich List with a net worth north of £1bn. In 2023, two executives at Mears Group earned more than £1m each, with board members also earning bonuses worth more than £1m combined.

  2. Follow the money.

    That’s why there is no political will to stop the boats.

  3. But they’re not doing that from 2029 so they’ll live… I dunno in all those houses that aren’t built yet.

  4. Wait until it turns out these companies are encouraging small boat crossings or financing them somehow.

  6. Yes, that’s what generally happens when you sell goods and services.

  7. Better of spending the money rebuilding the countries people are fleeing from so they can be sent back to their homeland. The money is going to be spent anyway, so put it to better use.

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