UK Refugees at Risk: How Current Move-on Policy Generates Homelessness

Refugee homelessness in the UK has surged in recent years and remains a critical issue. Home Office efforts to clear the asylum backlog have collided with systemic housing and homelessness pressures, making newly granted refugees disproportionately vulnerable to homelessness. Councils have a statutory duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to support people to resolve or avert the threat of homelessness. Newly recognised refugees across England rose from 2% to 9% of homelessness duties over 2023, and in the first half of 2025 accounted for 6-7%. In London, refugees evicted from asylum accommodation accounted for 8% of homelessness duties in June 2025 and 16% of new rough sleepers identified in 2024/25 were newly recognised refugees whose last settled base was asylum accommodation.