Hundreds of Afghan refugees in Essex moved out of hotels

Eleven families staying in Chelmsford were not found alternative homes in the city

About 400 Afghan refugees are leaving temporary hotel accommodation in Essex this week, the BBC has been told.

The families are being moved to a mixture of permanent and temporary housing, although some are having their hotel stays extended.

Colchester City Council said one household was rehoused 500 miles away in Inverness and others in Norfolk, Oxford and the north of England.

The Home Office said it was not in their "best interests" to be in hotels.

The refugees were given settled status in the UK under schemes introduced after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021.

Naqeeb Khilji and his son left their hotel room in Chelmsford

The BBC visited Mr Khilji's Chelmsford hotel room in June

The government started warning councils in April the hotel accommodation would be withdrawn.

"To move people on has been a challenge for the Afghan refugees and their children," said Colchester council's Liberal Democrat leader David King.

"It's a difficult place to be but it's much better than when we got the notice three months ago."

Colchester Liberal Democrat council leader David King said the process had been "emotional" for the refugees

More than 24,000 Afghans were relocated between August 2021 and December 2022, many of whom worked for the Ministry of Defence.

The government said 10,500 of them had so far been given homes.

In Essex:

• Families have been moved from four hotels in recent days in Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend and Harlow

• Four households in Colchester were found homes within the borough, the council said, but others were relocated elsewhere, including seven in Norfolk and one in Inverness

• Seven households in Colchester are technically homeless and still in a hotel

• None of the families in Chelmsford have been found homes within the city and instead moved to Harlow, Watford and Peterborough

• Chelmsford City Council's Liberal Democrat leader Stephen Robinson earlier this month said the government had "let [Afghans] down" because of "unsatisfactory" accommodation

• All 11 households in Harlow were moved from their hotel

• Refugees were leaving a Southend hotel on Tuesday

Mr King said trying to rehome the Afghan families in Colchester had contributed to an £800,000 overspend in the council housing budget.

However, a government spokesperson said councils were being given £7,000 for every Afghan being moved out of hotels.

"Hotels are not, and were never designed to be, long-term accommodation for Afghans resettled in the UK and it is not in their best interests to be living in hotel accommodation for months or years on end," added the spokesperson.