More than a fifth (22 per cent) of Afghans who had been living in bridging hotels in England and Wales have presented to councils as homeless, an LGA survey has found.
The Government gave a deadline of 31 August for all Afghan nationals to have moved out of hotels and find their own permanent accommodation.
However, the LGA had warned that some would end up facing homelessness because of a shortage of homes and the short timescale for them to leave.
Councils responding to the survey were taking a range of measures to help Afghan families, including matching them with properties in their area or providing them with temporary accommodation.
LGA Chair Cllr Shaun Davies said: “It is wrong that some families have had to leave Home Office-funded hotels only to then end up having to move into temporary accommodation.
“With record numbers of households already living in temporary accommodation and an acute shortage of housing across the country, this is adding huge pressure onto councils on the ground, and disruption and distress for families, some of whom are particularly vulnerable.”
The LGA is calling for a joined-up approach, across central and local government, to the cumulative pressures from all asylum and resettlement programmes, which includes urgent solutions to pressing housing needs across all the schemes that welcome new arrivals to the UK.
