UK ISSUES URGENT APPEAL TO HOUSE 20,000 MIGRANTS- The Home Office issues urgent appeal for 5,000 properties to house up to 20,000 migrants

The Home Office has issued an urgent appeal for 5,000 properties to house up to 20,000 migrants amid an accommodation crisis caused by a landmark High Court ruling.

Asylum accommodation contractors working for the Home Office “reached out” to property specialists earlier in August, seeking 5,000 residential units. Insiders suggested each flat would have two bedrooms on average, with space to house four migrants.

The move emerged on Wednesday, a day after Epping Forest district council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court to shut down the Bell Hotel in Essex over alleged planning breaches after it became a focus for anti-immigration protests.

Ministers are seeking to partner councils to buy, lease or rent houses and vacant properties in which to place asylum seekers as an alternative to hotels. Officials are also targeting disused tower blocks, student accommodation and old teacher-training colleges for use as “medium-sized” accommodation sites.

The new appeal is understood to have been seeking shorter-term leases or rents, where migrants would be accommodated for 90 days with an additional 30 days’ notice.

On Wednesday, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, called on the Government to guarantee that none of the asylum seekers removed from the Bell Hotel would be transferred to hotels or any other accommodation “much needed for British people”.

He also urged Sir Keir to call an emergency Cabinet meeting to draw up plans to deport all illegal migrants on arrival.