Telford bridging hotels to close as Afghan refugees get housed

Telford and Wrekin Council has now helped all refugees in the borough into permanent accommodation

Permanent accommodation has been provided to 325 Afghan refugees, a council said.

Telford and Wrekin Council said all bridging hotels will close on Friday after the refugees were given permanent accommodation.

The Home Office has given until the end of August for refugees to leave bridging hotels.

Cllr Kelly Middleton said the authority had worked hard to offer the accommodation.

Last month, council leader and chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), Shaun Davies, said there was a risk of Afghan families becoming homeless and ending up in temporary accommodation due to a housing shortage.

Hotels were not meant to be long-term accommodation for Afghans who fled the Taliban in 2021 and they should not be in them "for months or years on end", a government spokesperson said.

In Shropshire, the council said despite the county not having any bridging hotels, they received "allocated capital grant funding from government to acquire up to 13 dwellings by the end of March 2024".

"We hope this funding will help these families to settle in Shropshire, while creating more homes for future needs, and enable these people fleeing conflicts to continue integrating into their communities through work and everyday life here in Shropshire," Dean Carroll, cabinet member for housing, added.