No asylum seekers in County Durham or Darlington hotels

Data, published by the Home Office, covers hotel accommodation as of December 31, 2025 and shows a similar picture across much of the North East.

No asylum seekers were placed in temporary hotel accommodation in Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton or Sunderland.

The only exceptions in the wider region were Newcastle, which housed 282 asylum seekers in hotels, and North Yorkshire, with 234.

Newcastle's number is 27 lower than the previous year, while North Yorkshire's is two higher.

Across the country, use of hotels for asylum accommodation has been steadily falling.

At the end of December 2025, 30,657 people were housed in hotels while awaiting a decision on their asylum claims—the lowest number recorded in 18 months.

Numbers have continued to drop, reaching 29,561 by the end of June 2024, just before the general election.

This marks a significant decrease from a peak of 56,018 at the end of September 2023 under the Conservative government.

The issue drew national attention last year amid protests outside some hotel sites.

Labour has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels entirely by the end of this Parliament, which is expected to be in 2029.

In October, the government announced plans to house around 900 men in barracks in Scotland and southern England as part of a wider strategy to stop using hotels.

The Home Office figures show a 15 per cent drop in hotel use from the previous quarter, which recorded 36,273 people in hotels at the end of September.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have removed nearly 60,000 illegal migrants, numbers in asylum hotels are down, law enforcement action against people smugglers is at record levels and we are bearing down on the asylum backlog.

“But we must go further. The number of people crossing the Channel is too high, and too many hotels remain in use.

“That is why the Home Secretary is introducing sweeping reforms to tackle the pull factors drawing illegal migrants to Britain, and we are ramping up removals of those with no right to be here.”