Proposal to seek figures relating to resettlement of asylum seekers in Lisburn defeated in council chambers

Lisburn South Alderman Paul Porter failed in a bid to get Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council to press the Home Office for figures on how they are housing asylum seekers amid claims it could add to homelessness levels.

Mr Porter was also challenged by an Alliance councillor on his characterisation of people as “illegal immigrants”.

Data from the UK Home Office shows thousands of asylum seekers being temporarily rehoused in Northern Ireland over the last decade. During a recent full council meeting, Mr Porter said: “Four years ago, I and several other councillors were asked to attend a meeting with the UK Home Office, the NI Housing Executive and a group I had never heard of, Mears Housing.

“At that meeting Home Office officials outlined their new policy and how they were going to deal with the massive increase of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland and across the UK.

“Their policy, through public funding, was to fund Mears Housing to buy and rent properties in the wider Belfast and Lisburn area to house illegal immigrants at that time.

“During the meeting I, as a representative of a socially deprived area for the last 20 years, asked a simple question. “Will this policy have an impact on people who are already in these houses and in turn make these people homeless?”

According to Mears website, it manages 17,000 homes for local and central government and is also responsible for keeping 750,000 social housing homes in the UK in good repair.

Mr Porter added: ”On behalf of our constituents, our residents, some of the most vulnerable people out there in regards to being made homeless, as landlords ask them to move out for whatever reason, I have been asking questions this last number of months.

“How many houses has Mears bought or rented in the last four years in the Lisburn/ Belfast wider area?

“Despite my best efforts including those of MLA Jonathan Buckley in the Assembly and MP Jim Shannon in Westminster asking questions to the Home Office, and despite millions of pounds being spent, no one seems to know.

“I would ask that we write to Mears Housing, the Home Office and the Treasury to ask the same question.

“We shouldn’t be putting one set of people against another. But we also shouldn’t be encouraging a policy that we know encourages landlords to sell by getting more money, making people homeless so that the house can be given to someone else.

“I will continue to fight for these answers….so that the public will finally get the answers to how public money is being used.”

Councillor Claire Kemp responded: “I have some concerns of what has just been said in chambers.

“First of all, I would like to say that people are not illegal. To reference people as illegal is very, very dangerous particularly in the context of what happened last summer.”

In August 2024, tempers flared on the streets of Belfast with individuals and businesses perceived to be non-national being attacked. Following the violence a demonstration by anti-immigration protesters and a much larger counter demonstration by anti-racism supporters gathered outside Belfast City Hall.

Cllr Kemp added: “People were on the streets and people who were not originally from here, were terrified, their homes were attacked, their businesses were attacked because of this narrative that people not from here are taking the house of people who are form here. “So, I would take great exception to what is being said. “The member (Ald Porter) has pointed out extensively that there is no research to outline the lack of housing in this jurisdiction is because of asylum seekers and refugees.

“It is due to a lack of housing and not due to people who seek sanctuary in this jurisdiction.”

Mr Porter’s proposal was seconded by Councillor Brian Higginson causing a vote in chambers with 16 in favour and 20 against.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) put a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to Mears asking for statistics on houses purchased in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson said: “Mears accommodation in Northern Ireland is in connection with the UK Home Office Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts. “Any FoIs in relation to these contracts should be directed to the UK Home Office as they are the relevant public body covered by the Act.

“Mears, as a public limited company, is not actually subject to the FoI Act, although we will always assist the Home Office and any other public bodies that we work with where appropriate with relevant FoI inquiries.”

The LDRS then put the same housing FoI to the Home Office.

A spokesperson responded: “The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested.

“Asylum accommodation is procured by accommodation providers via contractual arrangements with the Home Office.”

The Home Office website states its policy on housing: "Asylum seekers are only accommodated in NI if they apply for asylum there.”

However, the Home Office did direct the LDRS to data showing the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation and by local authority.

Home Office records show when its Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme launched in 2014 people were granted humanitarian protection status up to July 2017 and afterwards all arrivals were granted refugee status. The spreadsheets provided to the LDRS calculates ‘Dispersal Accommodation’, which is longer-term, temporary housing for asylum seekers in the UK, managed by accommodation providers on behalf of the Home Office, and provided until their asylum claim is fully determined. The statistics show that from 2014 to 2024 there were 313 dispersals in Lisburn and Castlereagh with 42,697 in Belfast during that same period.

The Home Office has been asked to further verify figures.