Council helped 35 refugee families find homes

The council's communities team had also worked with local landlords to secure rooms in shared housing

Dozens of Afghan and Ukrainian refugee families have been given permanent homes as part of an effort to meet a city's housing needs for specific groups.

Peterborough City Council provided 35 families with homes with the help of grant funding from the government's Local Authority Housing Fund.

The authority bought 40 properties, which were occupied by the families in March, with rent levels capped and local housing allowance rates.

The council also sought to resolve the accommodation needs of single asylum seekers in Peterborough, who have been granted leave to remain but do not qualify as priority need under the Housing Act 1996.

An annual monitoring report on the council's housing strategy 2024-29 stated provision of the homes allowed families to settle and integrate into life in Peterborough and avoided additional demands on the authority's housing needs service.

The council's communities team had also worked with local landlords to secure rooms in shared housing, with its housing needs service offering rental deposit support, said the Local Democracy reporter.

"This support has become increasingly important since the government's decision in November 2024 to accommodate asylum seekers waiting for their asylum claim to be decided in the Dragonfly Hotel in Peterborough," the annual report stated.

"Once someone is granted leave to remain, they have to leave asylum accommodation and then face the challenge of finding accommodation," it added.

The use of the Dragonfly Hotel had sparked frequent protests since 146 asylum seekers were moved in last year.

People living in Peterborough and local politicians, the city's Labour MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling and the Conservative combined authority mayor Paul Bristow, spoke out against the hotel being used in this way.