FACT CHECK
The author of a misleading Facebook post, which has been shared thousands of times, claimed 48,000 “illegals” sleep in hotels in the UK.
Based on the number given, we think that by “illegals” the author means people seeking asylum, rather than people who are staying in the country illegally, though some may have entered the UK without authorisation.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report in July found that 48,000 people seeking asylum were being provided with accommodation by the government in March 2020. Of those, an average of 2,800 asylum seekers were in temporary “initial accommodation”, which is “usually in a hostel-type environment”. Of these, “more than 1,000” were in contingency accommodation, which includes hotels.
The Facebook post also claimed there are 6,000 former members of the Armed Forces sleeping on the streets.
A figure of 6,000 “homeless” veterans in England and Wales was reported in 2018. But it appears likely to be a measure of statutory homelessness, which is not the same as rough sleeping.
Out of 33,270 English households most recently assessed as homeless by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2,120 were sleeping rough.
We don’t know if the same rate would apply to veterans, but it seems likely that most of those who are homeless would not be sleeping on the streets.
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