Protests have flared up around the UK amid claims that asylum seekers are moving into HMOs – houses of multiple occupation. But that’s not the full story

As the Government vows to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers across the UK, their main alternative is also becoming increasingly controversial in many “Red Wall” towns.

When Hartlepool property entrepreneur Liam Lewis saw an online news story about his latest renovation project, he couldn’t believe what he was reading.

Using a picture of riot police in front of a burned out car from riots in the town last year, the BBC News story was headlined: “Police worry HMO could spark more misinformation.”

Last summer, Hartlepool experienced rioting sparked by the murder of three young girls in Southport and anti-immigrant misinformation which subsequently spread on social media.

Officers were pelted with bottles and a police car was set alight in a night of violence mirrored across a number of towns and cities, many of them in Labour’s “Red Wall” across the North and Midlands.

Liam Lewis outside the HMO property he renovated – police fear it could be targeted

Cleveland Police has told the council that allowing Lewis’s property to be used as a six-bed HMO (house of multiple occupation) could result in similar scenes occurring once again.

Lewis’s property will not house asylum seekers and is home to a group of six students and young professionals following a £100,000 revamp.

The application was made retrospectively due to a clause on converting flats which was missed at an earlier stage.

In a response to the application, the force said: “This proposal, of yet another HMO in the area (albeit stipulated for students)
 could potentially create further misinformation and make this premises a target and the residents at greater risk of being victims of crime.”

Lewis told The i Paper: “It’s shocking, it’s slander, it jeopardising my business, it’s tarnishing my reputation. It’s just total scaremongering, they [the police] are the ones providing misinformation.”

Cleveland Police declined to comment.

Lewis believes police appear to be legitimising a myth which is becoming increasingly potent among far-right figures – that HMOs are intrinsically linked to housing for asylum seekers.

The kind of protest that have been held outside asylum hotels – such as those in Epping, Essex, earlier this year – are now shifting focus to other types of accommodation.

A protest in South Shields over HMOs, with people waving flags and signs that say ‘stop the boats’ (Photo: TikTok)

Last month, a demonstration organised by a group called “Dundee Patriots” saw hundreds march on a HMO in the city, with people standing outside the property shouting “send them home” and “paedos”.

There have been similar protests in South Shields in Tyneside and Heywood, Greater Manchester, in recent months.

Lewis feels he has been “dragged into a political battle without my blessing”.

Misinformation about ‘secret HMO’

In Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, another HMO landlord, Steven Higginbotham, has been through a similar experience. He bought a derelict pub and spent £300,000 converting it into an eight-bed “co-living” property but has had to repeatedly address concerns that it will be used to house asylum seekers.

At one point, a YouTuber turned up at the property and posted a video falsely claiming it was a “secret HMO near a children’s primary school” that was going to be used for “migrant accommodation”.

Higginbotham told The i Paper: “The guy goes around blasting out all kinds of stuff out that’s totally inaccurate and drumming up a serious following.”

He believes the negative narrative around HMOs is also being fed by councillors of all parties in Tameside, the council with planning authority in Stalybridge.

The Labour-controlled authority recently became the latest to implement an Article 4 direction on HMOs, meaning they must have planning permission, as part of what one councillor called a “war on slum landlords”.

An eight-bed HMO in Stalybridge, Tameside, which has been targeted by online conspiracy theorists (Photo: Steven Higginbotham)

Higginbotham said neither local MPs nor councillors would agree to meet him to discuss his pub-conversion project.

In the end, he leafleted neighbouring streets himself and held a meeting to try to allay concerns. “People were still negative, they were very wary,” he said.

“It’s because of the stigma and the negativity by [the] press and these social channels and people on the ground, people are scared to death of what’s coming.”

Higginbotham says the residents who have moved into his property include a police officer and a doctor.

He is concerned that tenants from an ethnic minority background could face unwanted attention. “I don’t want them living in the property and there being this potential trouble,” he said.

What are the facts?

At the end of March 2025, there were 66,683 asylum seekers living in “dispersed accommodation” while they wait for their claim to be dealt with. This means they are placed in flats and houses across the country, often set up as HMOs.

Government contracts to provide this accommodation were awarded to three private companies – Serco, Mears Group and Clearsprings – and are expected to be worth £15.3bn over 10 years. These firms are responsible for finding landlords with appropriate properties and moving asylum seekers in.

For many landlords it is an attractive proposition, as the Home Office terms are more generous and have longer guaranteed income than they would get from the private sector.

Asylum accommodation has not been sourced evenly throughout the country, and “Red Wall” towns such as Hartlepool with cheaper property prices have received disproportionately higher numbers.

Anti-HMO protesters in Dundee shouted ‘send them home’ and ‘paedos’ outside a property (Photo: TikTok)

Labour MP Jonathan Brash complained to the Home Office that Hartlepool supports 50 asylum seekers per 10,000 people, while neighbouring authorities have as few as seven.

The use of HMO accommodation is increasing – the total figure in 2015 was 31,944 – and is likely to get larger as the Government moves to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers. More than 32,000 still being housed in hotels will need to move elsewhere by 2029.

However, asylum seekers represent a fraction of the people living in HMOs. Government figures suggest there are at least 472,000 HMOs in England alone.

What is really going on?

As the cost of living crisis has hit incomes and house prices have soared in recent years, there is increasing demand for an affordable place to live.

In response, there has been a rapid growth in HMOs – properties that are usually converted from their original use into a home for multiple occupants with shared kitchen and living facilities.

Such arrangements have been commonplace for university students for generations, but are now becoming much more common for adults of all ages in need of cheaper rent.

Liam Lewis’s property in Hartlepool is being rented out to students and young professionals

Lewis says the three-storey Victorian property he bought in Hartlepool was an eyesore and drug den before he bought it in January. The six rooms he rents out all have en-suite bathrooms and come fully furnished.

“People these days can’t afford to get on the property ladder, they can’t afford to heat a full property with rising living costs,” he said. “So good-quality accommodation is massively in demand, especially with the Northern Arts School in Hartlepool, the new power station about to go ahead.

“[The rooms] absolutely flew out. Students and professionals went straight in. They absolutely love it, it’s not even just a bog-standard HMO, it’s got everything that you need.

“The student accommodation I went to was not a patch on what I’m providing. It’s all vetted properly, ticks all the boxes, I spend too much money – I wouldn’t just put anyone in them, it’s not going to happen.”

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‘A target on my back’

Lewis is expecting a decision on his planning application later this month. But he is angry that no one from Cleveland Police or the council contacted him before raising concerns and fears the intervention has “put a target” on his back.

“It’s spreading the wrong narrative, it shouldn’t be allowed,” he said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels in this country. This Government will close every asylum hotel and we are working to move asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation such as military bases, to ease pressure on communities across the country.”