Residents were given eight days notice of the mass eviction planned for this Friday. Many still do not know where they will be moved to

By Marco Marcelline and Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter

Hundreds of asylum seekers are facing an abrupt eviction from a Walthamstow hotel they have lived in for years.

On Thursday (18th January) residents at the hotel received a letter from the government’s asylum seekers’ housing contractor Clearsprings Ready Homes saying their rooms would “no longer be available” from Friday 26th January.

The company added: “We will aim to give you five days’ notice of your move, although on occasion this may be less”.

Those living at the hotel have been told they are “entitled” to bring two pieces of luggage per person to the new accommodation.

In its letter, Clearsprings said it would find “suitable alternative” housing within the Home Office-funded “initial accommodation estate”, which is usually hostels or hotels.

The Home Office is understood to have begun telling residents where they will be moved to overnight. A hotel resident speaking to the Echo said she was told her family would be moved to a hotel a 191 mile drive away in Bridgwater, Somerset.

The woman, who arrived at the Walthamstow hotel in July 2022, said she cried when she looked up where the hotel she will be moved to is: “It’s too far away. I’m really disappointed and upset.”

A spokesperson for Clearsprings – whose profits doubled to £62.5million last year (2021/22) – said it “would not” comment on a media enquiry about evicting asylum seekers.

A copy of the eviction letter distributed to hotel residents on 18th January

Waltham Forest Council leader Grace Williams said: “We are very disappointed that around 400 asylum-seeking people staying in Waltham Forest have received letters from Clearsprings, the Home Office’s contractor, giving them just a few days’ notice to move. This is despite communication we received from the Home Office that hotels would not close until April. The news has understandably caused a huge amount of hassle and stress for vulnerable people who need our help.

“We do not yet know where they are being moved to. We have not been given details of the plan to continue supporting them. We consider them to be Waltham Forest residents who must be treated with compassion and respect.

“The timeframe makes decent planning and support virtually impossible. We have asked the Home Office for urgent assurances for each individual and family currently at the hotels.”

A letter sent to Cllr Williams from a Home Office official seen by the Echo said that it was “often the case that relocation of asylum seekers occurs before the contract end date” for hotels.

In the letter, the official said they were “sorry to hear that notifications to asylum seekers about their moves from these hotels have caused concern”.

They added: “It is my expectation that our provider, whilst working efficiently to decant from hotels that we are exiting, works closely with both hotel residents and relevant local partners to ensure this is communicated and handled smoothly. It is a matter of regret that this has not happened on this occasion”.

The official additionally said that the abrupt eviction had advantages because it allegedly “minimises disruption to schooling, and avoids Easter and Eid-al-Fitr”.

Sabrina*, a young Iranian woman staying at the hotel with her two-year-old daughter and husband told the Echo she was “really nervous” about her pending move.

She said: “All the time I’m thinking about my child and what will happen to her. My daughter has health issues. She [turned] two years [old] yesterday. Can you believe I couldn’t celebrate for her. I couldn’t say happy birthday because I was crying all the time and trying to pack. I’m full of tension and full of stress”.

The mother, who arrived at the hotel in January 2023, is enrolled in GCSE courses at a local college. She expressed concern that her year of studies could end up being in vain.

She said she had spoken to her college course leader who told her no other college would accept her at this time of the year. “I must be in Waltham Forest for my [GCSE] exams. Even if they send me to another city, I will try to collect money to travel back here for my exam but staying here would be difficult because we have no family. Where would I stay? But if I don’t come, one year of my [studies] would be wasted”. She hopes to go on to take further studies in either dentistry or Information Technology.

Sabrina added that council support workers were blindsided by the eviction notice sent to residents on Thursday (18th January) by Clearsprings.

She told the Echo: “I think we received the [eviction] notice sooner than the council. They didn’t let the council know about it. I was talking to somebody in the council, as I was working for them as a volunteer [at Waltham Forest’s Early Help Community Drop In] and when I spoke to them about the notice they didn’t know about it. We asked the councillors and they had no idea [about the eviction notice] but they were very supportive.”

Sri-Lankan born Srizam* said he, his wife and three children were moved into the Walthamstow hotel by the Home Office in May 2023.

Srizam said his children, aged twelve, ten, and eight, were well settled in their respective schools and didn’t want to leave their friends behind. His ten-year-old son is head boy at his school, he said.

“We are used to this place now, we are very familiar [with Waltham Forest]. I have permission to work, and I got a promotion to be shift manager at my work ten days ago. If we move, I will lose my job. If we move to a [new] hotel we have to start everything from scratch”.

Srizam said he only had a “couple” of suitcases between his family of five and were therefore planning to put the majority of their belongings in bin bags.

Local community groups were quickly rallying around to support the asylum seekers. Saira Begum Mir, who runs the PL84U-AL-SUFFA food bank in Walthamstow is helping to organise the distribution of suitcases and holdalls to the asylum seekers.

She said she knew many of the affected families and asylum seekers by name because they were regular food bank users. “They’re like family to us. We’ve got to know them very well.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of Waltham Forest community groups penned a joint letter addressed to Clearsprings that accused the contractor of treating the resident asylum seekers as “objects to be moved around at whim” and described the asylum seekers as “victims of the long term failure to put in place humane and more cost effective housing for asylum seekers”.

According to George Gaillet, a community organiser with CitizensUK, security staff at the hotel were being let go and replaced with new personnel ahead of the evictions this week.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously and at every stage in the process – from initial arrival to any potential relocations – our approach is to ensure that the needs and vulnerabilities of asylum seekers are identified and considered.

“We continue to provide safe accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we work to end the use of hotels which are costing UK taxpayers over £8 million a day.”

The spokesperson added that they do not “routinely” comment on individual cases.

*Names have been changed to protect speakers’ anonymity

Do you have more information about the ongoing events? Contact us: [email protected]

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