Afghan refugee on losing hope in North Yorkshire hotel

Marwa Koofi and her family fled Afghanistan in August 2021

A woman who fled Afghanistan for the UK when the Taliban swept to power says living in a hotel for almost a year has left her feeling her life has been "paused".

Marwa Koofi left Kabul in August 2021 and has lived in two hotels while waiting for permanent housing.

Her comments come after the refugees minister appealed to councils for help in housing 10,500 Afghans.

The government said it was moving people as "quickly" as possible.

"I stayed in a hotel for 11 months, I don't want to stay in a hotel for another 11 months," Ms Koofi said.

After arriving in the UK she and her family were placed in a hotel in Selby, North Yorkshire.

"When I think back to the year, I just see it as a blank - it's nothing, I haven't done anything," she said.

"I feel like our lives are paused, I just want our lives to be played."

She also said the family had since been split up.

Though she was moved to join her mother and brother at a hotel near Crawley, West Sussex, at the end of July, her 35-year-old sister remains at the hotel in Selby.

Her two other brothers, 23 and 26, are in a hotel in Manchester.

Ms Koofi, who is set to study International Relations at King's College London in September, said at least in Selby they had been together.

Marwa Koofi said she and her family were losing hope of finding permanent accommodation

Afghan families coming to the UK are placed in hotels until social housing can be provided by councils, with the government offering financial support.

But in his letter, seen by the BBC and dated 27 June, refugees minister Lord Harrington said they needed another 2,000 properties to house the remaining 10,500 people.

A Home Office spokesperson said homes for more than 7,000 Afghan evacuees had been already been provided, but it faced a challenge due to a shortage of local housing accommodation "not just for Afghans ... but also British citizens who are also on a waiting list".

They said hotels offer "safe, secure and clean accommodation" but that it was working to move people into "more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible".

Ms Koofi said she hoped extra homes would materialise after losing hers in Afghanistan.

"Once you feel like you're in a house and it's your own home and you can clean your room, arrange your house, maybe it won't feel like your own country but you might feel like it's your house."

She said they were losing hope of finding permanent accommodation.

"There is always hope and there is always a bright light but I want to feel that word again," she said.

"I don't feel it anymore. No one else does - none of my family."