Home Office queries council’s housing use

Manchester Council has denied immigration minister Des Browne’s
claim that it is refusing to put people in housing earmarked for
asylum seekers.

A Home Office spokesperson said that because of a fall in the
numbers of asylum seekers it had written to the council to ask if
empty homes could house other homeless groups.

But Browne said the council refused this request because contracts
for asylum seekers were lucrative.

Manchester’s executive member for housing Eddy Newman said that he
had not been previously aware of Browne’s concerns but he was happy
to discuss them with him because they were based on a
“misunderstanding”.