Mears has a contract to house asylum seekers in the north worth an expected \u00a3400 million over 10 years. <\/p>\n
DUP councillor Paul Porter, along with South Belfast MLA Edwin Poots<\/a>, met representatives of Mears last Friday to discuss long standing and continuing concerns around the policies of the company when it comes to housing asylum seekers.<\/p>\n Mr Porter, who sits on Lisburn and Castlereagh council, received figures on the post codes where Mears was housing asylum seekers two years ago, but claimed the company has not handed over updated data.<\/p>\n At the meeting, the company confirmed it did not buy any property, only entered contracts to rent, Mr Porter said.<\/p>\n \u201cI went through their own housing figures with them and showed them the massive discrepancies in regards to post codes in areas of high deprivation,\u201d Mr Porter said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat in my opinion shows, on previous figures I have, over 85% was in socially deprived areas. They have refused to give me updated figures.\u201d<\/p>\n Mears was contacted for comment. The company reported revenue of over \u00a31.1bn and profits of approximately \u00a364m in 2024.<\/p>\n The figures released by the company do reveal the number being housed in hotels has dropped significantly, from close to 900 two years ago to just under 250 now. Three are still being used, with The Chimney Corner Hotel in Newtownabbey the focus of protests. <\/p>\n According to its own figures, again from two years ago, close to 1,700 of approximately 3,000 were being housed in five postal code areas.<\/p>\n The rest were dispersed across multiple areas. <\/p>\n Overall, the number of asylum seekers has dropped from 3,220 in September 2023 to 2,535 in June this year.<\/p>\n Proportionally, the north has among the smallest number among the regions of the UK.<\/p>\n Moving those seeking sanctuary from hotels aligns with the policies of the present Labour government and the previous Conservative administration to \u201cdisperse\u201d the people into communities. <\/p>\n Hotels housing asylum seekers have become the focus of protests, while the High Court granted a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers being accommodated in the Bell Hotel in Epping in Essex.<\/p>\n The DUP is seeking to have asylum seekers removed from the three remaining hotels in Northern Ireland used by Mears on behalf of the Home Office.<\/p>\n Three councils have launched enforcement actions in connection with hotels housing asylum seekers. <\/p>\n But Mr Porter, while saying the people should be moved from hotels, said: \u201cThat ship has sailed.\u201d <\/p>\n The councillor, who did not want to reveal those post codes where the majority were being housed, is more concerned that the people are being accommodated in already deprived areas where housing needs are most acute. <\/p>\n There are a limited number of properties, while it also likely drives up rental prices, he said. <\/p>\n The UK\u2019s Home Office said: \u201cAsylum accommodation is procured by accommodation providers via contractual arrangements with the Home Office.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: \u201cMears Group consults on all accommodation used for asylum dispersal with relevant partners in Northern Ireland, and we maintain active governance forums to discuss issues relating to procurement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe provide funding to local authorities to support them in meeting the needs of asylum seekers and host communities. <\/p>\n \u201cValue for money, community cohesion and the well-being of those working and living in asylum accommodation will continue to be at the forefront of decision-making as we continue to explore options.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A billion-pound company charged with finding \u201cdispersed\u201d accommodation for asylum seekers has sourced housing for a large majority…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2414,24847,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-376952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-asylum-seeker","9":"tag-hotel","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115099357111919127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"‘Shock](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ZD22ANRXPZAF7HM7PG4QBI2VW4.webp\")
<\/a>![\"Sister](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VT2IXB3PLZBVFC7DBAXVNFXBK4.png\")
<\/a>![\"Alderman](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DTPEECJWBFNDJFOBVI7S6FHAMQ.jpg\")
Alderman Paul Porter met with Mears representatives on Friday <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/I6X6KVKPHZMBLPPB3X2DR4I4BI.jpg\")
The Chimney Corner Hotel, Mallusk <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/3FXF7XMENNLMJCKYCIQ7ZISTOY.jpg\")
Protests and counter protests have taken place in England (Jane Barlow\/PA) <\/p>\n![\"Mears](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/5IVFBNQIMZF7RAI3FOD2KSKJ3U.png\")
Mears has a 10-year \u00a3400m contract to house asylum seekers in the north <\/p>\n