Report finds women are subjected to damaging patterns of coercion and control while in hotel accommodation
A new report published last week by Women for Refugee Women, Coercion and Control: The Treatment of Women Seeking Asylum in Hotel Accommodation, highlights serious concerns regarding the treatment of women housed in asylum hotels across the UK.
You can download the 26-page report here.
The report is based on research designed and conducted by women with personal experience of the UK's asylum system, in an effort to shed light on the unique challenges faced by asylum-seeking women. It is the first report of its kind to focus specifically on women in asylum hotels.
Research by Women for Refugee Women reveals that women seeking asylum who have fled gender-based violence are subjected to similar patterns of coercion and control while housed in hotels. This environment has a profoundly negative impact on their mental health and ability to recover from trauma.
The report identifies several troubling practices. Women in hotels face constant monitoring and surveillance, restrictions on their movements, and isolation from social networks and support. They also report being subjected to degrading and dehumanizing behaviour from hotel staff, including sexual harassment and room intrusions, with some women being threatened with eviction for minor infractions.
The mental health effects of these conditions are severe. The report finds that:
- 91% of women surveyed felt anxious or depressed,
- 75% felt hopeless,
- 67% felt dehumanized, and
- 46% reported feeling suicidal.
Many of these women, who are survivors of rape, domestic violence, and sexual exploitation, are retraumatized by the controlling and restrictive environment of hotel accommodation. Rather than providing a space for healing, the report argues, the hotel system perpetuates the very patterns of abuse that these women sought to escape.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by Women for Refugee Women shows that there were 8,029 women in asylum hotels as of the beginning of June 2024. According to the report, women currently make up just over a quarter (27%) of the total number of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation. With so many women housed in hotels across the UK, the report says swift government action is needed to prevent further harm and provide women asylum seekers with the safety and dignity they deserve.
Women for Refugee Women calls for immediate changes, including an end to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers, and the provision of safe, supportive accommodation where women can rebuild their lives. The organisation urges the new Labour government, which has committed to prioritizing survivors of gender-based violence, to include asylum-seeking women in its efforts to reform the asylum system and address gender-based violence.
Andrea Vukovic, Deputy Director of Women for Refugee Women, emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating: "The new Government has inherited a crumbling asylum system which is actively putting women at risk. Nearly half of the women we spoke to said that hotel accommodation made them suicidal. The Government needs to urgently get a grip on what's happening in asylum hotels to prevent further harm. We urge the Government to end policies which have put women in harm's way and ensure proper oversight of the private providers who are running hotels. Ultimately, the use of hotels for accommodating people seeking safety needs to end now. Failing to do so will undermine the Government's ambition to tackle the national emergency of violence against women. It will create a two-tier approach to supporting survivors of gender-based violence, with those seeking safety in the UK left behind."
As the report notes, since coming to power, the Labour government has committed to ending the use of hotels, mainly through processing the backlog of asylum claims.