A total of 400 Afghan refugees have been informed that their stay in Essex hotels will end in August.
According to the Home Office, they would receive assistance in finding housing, but those who declined the offer would be asked to leave, which many people feared would leave them homeless.
The Colchester Borough Council has requested "immediately extending the hotel stays" from the government.
"Hotels were never designed to be long-term accommodations for Afghans resettled in the UK," the Home Office claimed.
More than 24,000 people, including British nationals, had entered the UK from Afghanistan as of December 2022, according to the government, after the withdrawal of US and British military forces from the country.
Afghan guests at a hotel in Chelmsford were informed via letters in May that they had to "quit" the building by August 9.
According to the letter, if they did not vacate by this time, they would "be a trespasser" and the secretary of state for the Home Department would be free to evict them from the property.
According to data from Essex County Council and Southend City Council, there are 76 Afghan families in the county, with an average of five to six people in each. These families require permanent housing.
Some families have ten or twelve members, so charities, councils, and the Home Office have had to look for homes with five or six bedrooms or more.
A charity that aids refugees was concerned that half of the 410 people at risk of losing their housing might become homeless.
According to Eddie Campbell of Essex Integration, a project that assists Afghans working in hotels, they call letting agents about 60–70 properties each week, but "less than 1% will actually take a family on.".
People are unemployed, they lack a guarantor, and the agent and landlord simply don't want to take a chance, he continued.
He stated that he anticipated that "about 50% of them... will have to present themselves as homeless to their local council or [another] one of their choice.".
After successfully leaving Afghanistan in August 2021 with his wife and four children, Naqeeb Khilji, 52, said he and most Afghan families were "depressed and worried.".
He claimed that despite trying to rent a three-bedroom home in Chelmsford while working as a taxi driver, he was informed that he would need a guarantor with at least £40,000 in assets and three times the amount of income.
Everyone is under stress because we are unsure of our destination, he claimed.
"Another hotel, a lodge, a residence, a house, a flat? I have no idea. In my family, everyone is concerned. ".
He added that some families had stated they would return to Afghanistan if given the opportunity.
He remarked, "[They said] we would be content to return and die there, because hotel life is killing me every day.
"However, because I am already employed, I can envision a bright future for my family once we purchase a home. ".
The chief executive of Colchester City Council and the leader of the Liberal Democrats urged the Home Office to extend the hotel stays in a letter, warning against "making over 200 people homeless on 4 August.".
Given the promises we made as a country, they said, "That would be a great wrong.".
The council claimed that the housing stock was unavailable.
It's terrible because it breaks the original promise that we would welcome you, support you, and take care of you in return for how the Afghan people had helped us and our armed forces. ".
Due to the "limited supply of housing, whether it be public or private," he continued, "the lack of notice is the challenge.".
Additionally, Chelmsford City Council stated that it could "anticipate some Afghan families may approach us" because there were already close to 400 households in temporary housing.
A spokesman said, "Any additional families made homeless in our district will add to an already severely stressed system.".
According to Southend City Council, it is "working hard and successfully to get [refugees] suitable places to live, both here and in other towns and cities of their choosing.".
Conservative councilman David Garston stated that those who are not yet fully capable of supporting themselves will be encouraged to apply for homelessness. ".
It was not in the best interests of the Afghans who were resettled in the UK, according to a government spokesman, "to be living in hotel accommodations for months or years on end.".
This is why we've announced a strategy to hasten the relocation of Afghan nationals into long-term housing, backed by £285 million in new funding, according to a statement.
"The government offers a lot of assistance, and we'll keep trying our best to support Afghan families as they rebuild their lives here.
. "
