Hundreds of asylum seekers still housed in city hotels
Concerns grow after stabbing spree
MORE than 300 asylum seekers are still housed in Glasgow hotels despite a promise to move them into other accommodation.
The disclosure comes three weeks after an asylum seeker was shot dead by police following a stabbing spree at the city centre Park Inn.
The attacks by Badreddin Abadlla Adam, 28, from Sudan, left six people injured, including 42-year-old police constable David Whyte.
Mears Group, the company paid by the Home Office to house asylum seekers, has said it would try to get those moved into hotels during the pandemic back into houses and flats as soon as possible.
But the firm has revealed more than 300 are still living in Glasgow hotels.
Earlier this week it emerged a review into housing asylum seekers in hotels is taking place after the knife attack. Chris Philp, a Home Office minister, said officials from the department were examining the issues raised after talks with local politicians.
There are 111 asylum seekers in the Ibis Hotel, 90 in the Mercure Hotel, 21 in the Tartan Lodge, 71 in McLays Guest House, and ten in Beersbridge Lodge.
The firm stressed that the numbers fluctuate daily as more asylum seekers are moved out into other accommodation.
Speaking in the Commons last week, Patrick Grady, the Nationalist MP for Glasgow North, said ‘forcing’ asylum seekers into hotels ‘really significantly damaged trust in the system’.
Last week, a charity claimed dozens of asylum seekers were malnourished after being housed in substandard conditions.
It was claimed some were then served food ‘not fit for human consumption’, while others had been placed in Glasgow accommodation blighted with bed bugs, according to Positive Action in Housing.
They have been left isolated, with no money even to buy topups for phone cards to call family, friends and support workers, it has been claimed.
However, the Home Office has insisted that all ‘essential living needs are met, which is all paid for by the taxpayer and there is no cost to the individual’.
A Mears spokesman said: ‘In hotels, asylum seekers receive three meals a day, have access to healthcare and all of their essential living needs are met.
‘NHS staff and Mears staff are on site daily in hotels to support the health and wellbeing of service users. Mears staff check on service users on a daily basis. NHS staff in the Asylum Health Bridging Team lead on healthcare provision.’
Meanwhile, Adam’s family has apologised for his stabbing spree. Adam Abadlla Adam, 41, said his brother’s life began spiralling out of control as his bid to make a fresh start in Scotland derailed.
Speaking from Sudan, Mr Adam, a police officer, said: ‘We wish a quick recovery for the victims and we are sorry for what happened, for what our brother did.
‘The family received the death of Badreddin with shock. It was unexpected and very hard.’
Mr Adam told The Scottish Sun on Sunday: ‘He was a kind of guy that never used to harm people. He was very affected by the killing of his uncles in the conflict in Darfur.’
Adam was buried at Linn Cemetery in Glasgow on Saturday.