Labour’s double-rent migrant deals leave British families last

Landlords are being offered rents of up to twice the market rate to house asylum seekers, with one Southwark owner told he could take £4,500 a month for a three-bedroom flat while Southwark Council offered only £1,790 for the same property to house social tenants.

The deals come from accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes and include three-year contracts plus payments covering bills, council tax and maintenance. The landlord called the offer “nuts” and refused it. He already rents to the council and would not tear up that agreement because it would put families at serious risk of homelessness.

He told The Sun: “I already rent to Southwark Council, and they are able to offer significantly more than the local authority, which to me is bizarre. I didn’t go with them because it would have meant terminating my contract with Southwark Council and putting families at serious risk of homelessness. I am not prepared to do that.” He also asked why higher standards, including redecoration and new carpets, were being demanded for migrant housing when local authorities pay less for families in need.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called it “a day of shame for Labour that hard-working Brits are being kicked out of flats so they can be let out at twice the price for illegal immigrants.” Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick said: “This is everything that’s wrong with broken Britain. The Government is spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to roll out the red carpet for illegal migrants, while leaving domestic abuse victims as afterthoughts.” A Reform government, he made plain, would put veterans and victims of domestic abuse first for housing.

Britain cannot keep paying premium rates to park new arrivals while its own people queue for a roof. Public money should secure homes for those who already live here and play by the rules, not outbid councils for the same bricks and mortar. Sovereignty means the state looks after its citizens first.

Clearsprings works under a ten-year Home Office contract worth around £7billion covering southern England and Wales and houses around 30,000 migrants. It is one of three firms alongside Serco and Mears Group. A document shows the company seeking properties in Bedford, Southampton, the Forest of Dean, Caerphilly and Wrexham, sometimes insisting on refurbishment to its own standards. Businessman Graham King runs the firm, which reportedly made a profit of £62.6million in the year to January 2025 on turnover of almost £1.4billion.

Hotels close, pressure shifts to ordinary streets

The row lands as ministers try to cut hotel use for people who arrive in the UK, including those crossing the Channel in small boats. More than 220,000 migrants have arrived by small boat since 2018. Officials have closed more than 100 hotels and moved residents into houses in multiple occupation and disused military sites.

The Express reports the Home Office insists it pays only a capped and contractually agreed rate to providers and that any amount above that is covered by the contractor, not taxpayers. The department says it has saved more than £1billion on asylum support since the election by closing hotels and has removed 80,000 people with no right to be in the UK. Clearsprings Ready Homes and Southwark Council have been approached for comment.

Critics see the same pattern: large contracts, higher offers to landlords, and British families left competing for less. The Southwark case shows the gap in black and white. Until housing priority is restored to citizens, veterans and those fleeing domestic abuse, the anger will only grow.

Original source: Express