‘Vulnerable’ asylum seekers still housed in hotels despite vow after knife attack
ASYLUM seekers are still being accommodated in hotels in Glasgow despite the company responsible vowing to do “everything in its power” to end the practice almost a year ago.
Around 350 asylum seekers were moved to hotels at the start of the pandemic by Mears, which is contracted by the Home Office to provide accommodation for those seeking asylum in the UK.
After reports of poor food, unsanitary conditions, several people taking their own lives, and a horrific stabbing in Glasgow which saw six people injured and the attacker being shot dead, the firm promised to do all it could to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels.
Following the violent attack at the Park Inn on June 26, 2020, junior Home Office minister Chris Philp said the department had been in discussions with Glasgow City Council about moving people into “more stable accommodation”.
Mears chief operating officer John Taylor acknowledged last year that hotels were not “appropriate” for some people such as pregnant women, victims of human trafficking, and families, and said that “anyone living in a hotel for three months is going to find it challenging”.
However, The Herald on Sunday has learned that the practice is still continuing, with one organisation reporting that pregnant women, families and vulnerable people are among those still living in hotels.
The Home Office refused to confirm how many asylum seekers were staying in hotels, only confirming the number of hotels being used had reduced from six last year to three.
Robina Qureshi, head of Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), which campaigns for better conditions for asylum seekers and has been leading the charge for better conditions, claims the number living in hotels has not drastically changed since last year.
Last month, her organisation had been helping people staying in the Hallmark hotel in Glasgow city centre with food vouchers and mobile phone top-ups, which she said was needed after the hotel’s internet stopped working.
She explained: “We had been made aware that the wifi was not working in one of the hotels, and people were unable to contact their families. We went to see if we could help – people were looking for assistance for mobile phone top-ups.
“When we went, we asked how many people were staying in the hotel thinking it was going to be about 20, seeing as they had emptied the hotels.
“We were told there were about 90 to 100 people. I was shocked. There’s pregnant women, children, there are couples. There’s vulnerable people who are in there.”
Ms Qureshi said her organisation spent several says helping asylum seekers with mobile phone top-ups and food vouchers, eventually assisting more than 75 people over three days from one hotel alone.
She said: “One man I spoke to told me, ‘Never before did I think about taking my own life, and now I am seriously thinking about ways in which I can, you know … do it’.
“When you hear someone tell you this then you know it is a very real problem. The information we are getting back is that people are struggling. People have been tortured in their home country, they have fled violence, they are traumatised, and now they are being ignored.”
The Home Office conducted an internal review following the knife attack last year, which saw Badreddin Abadlla Adam, a 28-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan, shot dead by police after he attacked six people, including a police officer.
However, the results of the review have been kept secret, with the department refusing to publish them. It is not known what was recommended and what action was taken following the probe, although the department said it has been working with both the Scottish
Government and the SNP-run Glasgow City Council on the recommendations.
Ms Qureshi said there should be a fully independent public inquiry into the treatment of asylum seekers in Glasgow and said the Home Office’s review was “nonsense”.
She said: “It may as well have not happened, as nothing has changed. It is essentially the Home Office marking their own homework.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are working through the report and continue to work with Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government to support asylum seekers.”
A spokesman for Mears said the pandemic had seen a shortage of “suitable accommodation”. He added: “We have used good quality hotel accommodation during the pandemic. We are committed to ending hotel use at the earliest opportunity.”
There’s pregnant women, children. There are couples. There’s vulnerable people in there