The Privatisation of Asylum Accommodation in the UK: Winners and Losers

Abstract

The United Kingdom has been a pioneer regarding privatisation policies since the 1980s. This derives from the coming to power in the UK in 1979 of the New Right with the election of the Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher. Privatisation has taken many forms and has spared no area of society or the economy. Housing has been at the forefront of the public services that have undergone privatisation for economic, political and practical reasons. Within the field of housing, the rules governing access to asylum accommodation have been altered since the 1990s and the provision of accommodation has shifted to the private sector since the 2010s. These transformations have had consequences on asylum seekers’ housing conditions. Going over successive parliamentary reports on the matter, one cannot fail to wonder who are the winners and the losers of these reforms.