Home Office withholds homelessness cost data from peers

Ministerial colleagues across the government are demanding specific figures from the Home Office regarding the financial and social cost of new asylum rules. The dispute centers on a refusal by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to quantify how many people might become homeless as a result of ending asylum hotels and changing support duties. Senior officials in other departments say this lack of data is blocking their ability to plan for a potential surge in demand for local services.

One person with knowledge of the internal discussions stated that Mahmood has been asked multiple times for the Home Office's assessment of the impact on community cohesion and homelessness. The source described her response as a point-blank refusal to engage with the specific numbers. This silence has generated frustration among ministers working to end rough sleeping, who feel they are being asked to solve a problem without knowing its full scale.

The Home Office maintains that the policy followed standard cross-government procedures. A spokesperson said information was shared through formal collective agreement channels. The department claims the reforms have saved taxpayers more than £1 billion since the election and that moving people into more suitable accommodation will not leave them homeless. Allies of the Home Secretary argue that exact impacts cannot be quantified yet because the final design of the new system is not finished.

However, an impact assessment released by the department this month acknowledged the risks. The document stated that if repayments reduce disposable income, some individuals could face financial hardship or destitution. It warned that this may increase demand for homelessness services and rough sleeping support, creating additional cost pressures for local authorities. The assessment noted that because the design of the recoupment mechanism is not yet developed, it is not possible to assess the scale of the risk at this stage.

The friction began in November 2025 when Mahmood announced the changes to the asylum system. She ended permanent leave to remain and the government's duty to support people who would otherwise become destitute. She argued the proposals would restore order to the immigration system and reduce the appeal of hard-right parties like Reform UK. The announcement raised immediate concerns among housing and social care ministers about the downstream effects on their budgets and staffing.

Former ministers Ali McGovern, Miatta Fahnbulleh, and Steve Reed initially raised these concerns. They feared the moves could prevent the government from hitting its target of halving rough sleeping by the end of the current parliament. McGovern and Fahnbulleh secured a meeting with then-Home Office minister Alex Norris, who is now justice secretary, but felt their questions went unanswered. They prepared a formal letter demanding the information, but Fahnbulleh resigned before it was sent, a move that contributed to Keir Starmer's departure from Downing Street.

The dispute has intensified under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has promised to give every rough sleeper a route off the streets by Christmas. This commitment requires hundreds of millions of pounds in funding. Angela Rayner, the current housing secretary, is also seeking more details. She is particularly concerned that moving asylum seekers into houses of multiple occupancy could reignite anti-immigration protests. Rayner has also argued against making it harder for care workers to achieve settled status, a point Burnham is considering to prevent an exodus from the sector. Senior ministers will meet over the next ten days to decide how to handle the policy details.