Number of Homeless Refugees Housed by UK Council Surges 400 Per Cent as Authority Faces Accusations of ‘Prioritising Illegal Migrants’

A Labour-run council has been accused of prioritising finding accommodation for migrants – amid a 400 per cent surge in homeless refugees living in the city.

The City of Edinburgh Council suspended its social housing allocations policy in April last year in order to free homes up for those it has a ‘statutory duty to accommodate’, such as those presenting as emergency homeless.

The council, which is run by a minority Labour administration, said this was to tackle the ‘housing emergency’ it declared in November 2023 amid a dwindling supply of social homes.

But it has seen a 400 per cent surge in ‘non-preventable homelessness’ applications from migrants granted refugee status by the Home Office since April 2024. They now make up around 16 per cent of all households in temporary accommodation.

It meant those waiting for a new council tenancy or a change to another home were pushed down the list so housing bosses could focus on emergency homelessness applications from those sleeping rough or fleeing violence.

Under Scottish law, migrants with refugee status who have nowhere to stay after being released from their Home Office accommodation are entitled to emergency support in the same way as Scots.

It also prioritised those with medical needs and families with children living in shared housing – whilst delaying everyday applicants such as those on lower incomes or living in an overcrowded council home.

The number of households presenting as homeless has risen by about 15 per cent in the last year – from 3,455 to 3,969 – after remaining steady for three years, following the decision to prioritise homeless applications.

The figures have sparked accusations from Reform UK that the council is ‘prioritising illegal migrants’.

Since suspending its standard council housing policy, Edinburgh has reviewed hundreds of applications from migrants given the right to remain, approving almost all of them.

Between April 2025 and June 2026, the council received 722 applications for housing from asylum seekers, of whom all but 11 were assessed as homeless and in need of accommodation.

As of last month, the city is housing 1,442 refugees, of whom 442 have connections with other parts of the UK such as work or family, compared with just 281 as of two years ago – a 413 per cent rise.

Migrants now account for around 16 per cent of all temporary accommodation households in the city, up from around one per cent three years ago.

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