Authorities in Great Britain are scrambling with candles and lanterns to house asylum seekers stuck in lengthy asylum procedures. Military installations and old prisons did not turn out to be the hoped-for solution.
Now the Home Ministry is turning its sights to the sea. They want to buy ten old cruise ships, yachts and ferries to house asylum seekers, reports Guardian.
– Pressure continues to mount on the asylum system and to look at a range of different housing options that offer better value for money to taxpayers than hotels. This includes the possible use of ships to provide accommodation, a spokesman for the department said.
Immigrants should be encouraged
The British government is trying to rein in migrants who want to move to the country and wants to push a bill that says anyone who came to Britain illegally cannot settle there. Instead, they want to deport them to third countries like Rwanda.
A government source told the newspaper that using boats as shelter would have a “deterrent effect” on people crossing the canal in small boats.
Plans to house 500 refugees on a large barge in Dorset were previously confirmed in a bid by Tory politicians to criticize the use of hotels as asylum accommodation in their constituencies.
The boat, named PP Stockholm, will be in Portland Harbor starting in June, when asylum seekers will board at the end of that month.
Using barges as accommodation is not cheap: Home Office documents show it costs around seven million pounds a day.
People continue to flee to Britain
Hundreds of refugees are arriving in the UK through the English Channel every week, and new asylum applications are coming in faster than authorities can process those already there. Sources within ministries have told The Guardian that Home Affairs Minister Suella Braverman is “close” to securing a deal to use an old cruise ship that can hold 1,800 passengers as a shelter. However, local politicians condemned the idea, calling it “a floating prison”.
According to The Guardian, authorities have been asked to create 10,000 non-hotel accommodation spaces by the end of the year. So far, only 4,500 sites have been moved, including former military bases, reopened asylum detention centers and old prisons.
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