How many illegal migrants were housed in hotels in the UK in 2024

1. Summary of the results

Across multiple government and media summaries, the number of people described in reporting as being housed in hotels as part of the UK asylum system fluctuated through 2024 into 2025. Contemporary reporting and official tallies consistently refer to tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotel or contingency accommodation, with snapshot counts including around 29,585 at the end of June 2024, about 32,059–32,345 in early-to-mid 2025, and higher earlier in 2024 depending on the month cited (for example about 46,000 in January 2024 in one dataset) ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Sources distinguish between “contingency” or “hotel” accommodation and longer-term dispersal housing; the majority of the rapid increases noted in 2024 were people moved into contingency hotels as immediate accommodation rather than permanent housing placements ^{[4] [5]}.

Different outlets and analysts emphasize different snapshots and definitions, producing a range of headline numbers for “people in hotels.” Most reputable trackers and media pieces avoid labeling these people uniformly as “illegal migrants”; they are described as asylum seekers or people in the asylum system, reflecting the status distinctions used in official data and Migration Observatory analysis ^[4]. Cost reporting related to hotel use likewise varies by accounting period: one fact-check and government figures point to headline monthly costs in the order of £108 million in 2024/25 rather than substantially larger monthly sums sometimes claimed in political debates ^[3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

A key omission when citing a single number for “illegal migrants in hotels in 2024” is the difference between asylum seekers, refused claimants, and people with irregular immigration status, and how those categories are recorded. Most public statistics referenced by analysts and the BBC track people in asylum accommodation rather than the immigration status label “illegal,” so raw counts do not directly answer the original phrasing ^[4]. Likewise, the asylum accommodation system is dynamic: monthly and quarterly snapshots can diverge because of inflows, decisions on claims, transfers to dispersal housing, and removals; this explains why January, June and March figures differ ^{[3] [1] [2]}.

Alternative viewpoints include government statements focusing on reductions from peak hotel use and cost containment measures, and third‑sector or local voices emphasizing ongoing pressures on councils and communities. Some summaries highlight government progress in reducing hotel reliance between peaks, while others underline continuing high headline numbers and local impacts, so both reduction narratives and concern narratives are supported by different slices of the same data ^[1]. Migration analyst outputs stress methodological caveats and the need to combine contingency and dispersal accommodation figures for a fuller picture ^{[4] [5]}.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement—asking how many “illegal migrants” were housed in hotels in 2024—carries two potential sources of misleading framing. First, equating hotel accommodation counts with “illegal migrants” conflates legal categories: the figures widely reported refer to asylum seekers in the asylum support system rather than a single legal status of “illegal” ^[4]. Second, single-number claims can be selective about timing; citing a high monthly snapshot from early 2024 (for example ~46,000 in January 2024) without context can exaggerate the ongoing scale compared with later months where counts were lower (for example ~29,585 in June 2024 or ~32,000 in early 2025) ^{[3] [1] [2]}.

Who benefits from the framing depends on the speaker’s aim. Political actors seeking to press for tougher border controls may emphasize peak hotel counts or use “illegal” language to stress crisis, while advocacy groups and local authorities may emphasize costs, human welfare or reductions achieved to argue for different policy responses—each selection of figures or labels serves a distinct rhetorical goal ^{[3] [5]}. To answer the original question accurately, one should cite asylum‑system hotel counts with month and year specified and avoid translating those counts automatically into a single immigration‑status label ^{[1] [4]}.