Number of asylum seekers housed in Portsmouth and Hampshire hotels is revealed by Home Office
The number of asylum seekers living in hotels in every area of Hampshire has been revealed in new government figures.
The figures have been published by the Home Office and show the “number of asylum seekers housed temporarily in hotels across the UK”, and are for December 31, 2025.
There are comparable figures available for September 30 last year, which show the difference in the three months.
The numbers show that at the end of December Portsmouth had 106 people being housed in hotels, 50 fewer than in September when there were 156. There were no hotels being operated in the Gosport, Fareham, Havant or East Hampshire council areas.
There were several protests in Portsmouth last summer over the use of hotels - with demonstrations held opposite the Royal Beach Hotel on Southsea seafront, which is hosting asylum seekers. The protest, by the Portsmouth Patriots group, drew criticism from some including Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan, who said: “Hate will never win.”
Across the rest of Hampshire, the figures show Southampton was housing 105 people at the end of December, seven fewer than in September. Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Deane, Hart, Test Valley and the New Forest Council areas all had no asylum seeker hotels. Rushmoor, which covers Farnborough and Aldershot, had 133 people in hotels in December, down 47 from the 180 in September.
Chichester, Havant’s neighbouring authority to the east, was housing 147 in December, down from 198 in September.
Nationally, the number of asylum seekers housed temporarily in UK hotels has fallen to its lowest level for 18 months, according to the Home Office figures, with 30,657 people staying in such accommodation while they were awaiting a decision on their asylum claims at the end of December.
Labour has pledged to no longer be using asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, which would be 2029, if not earlier. In October, the Government announced that barracks in Scotland and southern England would be used to house around 900 men temporarily, as part of Government efforts to stop using hotels to temporarily house asylum seekers.