Homelessness among refugee families in the UK has risen by almost 350 per cent, new data from the UK government shows.

The report identified 4,840 families who have been granted refugee status were homeless between January and March this year, up 348 per cent on the same period last year.

An additional 1,270 families “at risk” of homelessness, the data shows. This figure is more than double the 600 refugee families and households facing homelessness in 2023.

Advocates say the homelessness occurs because when asylum seekers successfully gain refugee status, the UK government forces them to leave asylum accommodation within 28 days.

Currently, asylum seekers who gain refugee status are given just four weeks to leave Home Office accommodation and find their own housing, alongside setting up employment, a bank account and other necessities.

They say that instead of affording people sanctuary, achieving refugee status has increasingly resulted in people being without homes.

Chief executive of the UK Refugee Council Enver Solomon said newly minted refugees were “very likely to face destitution, homelessness and fall into crisis”.

The new data revealed that families and households who are former asylum seekers owed a ‘homelessness duty’ has increased by nearly 150 per cent over the past year.

‘Homelessness duties’ in the UK are requirements of local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to help secure accommodation for any eligible person who is homeless.

In London, homelessness among refugees tripled from 170 households in 2023 to 600 households in 2024.

Housing charity Homeless Link blamed “years of hostile government policies towards people seeking asylum in the UK” for the rise in homelessness.

“In an effort to address the mounting backlog, the previous government – without consulting local authorities or the homelessness and migrant sectors – suddenly changed the procedure for ending asylum support once a decision had been made,” Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson said.

He said often new refugees were given as little as seven days’ notice before being evicted from asylum accommodation.

Mr Henderson called on the new Labour government to increase the eviction period from asylum accommodation from 28 to 56 days.

“This will give local authorities and charities the crucial time needed to work with people leaving the asylum system to find suitable accommodation and give them the stability to build the new life they’re entitled to.”

Last year, an open letter to the previous Conservative government, signed by more than 100 organisations, made a similar demand.

A report published earlier this year found that immigration policies in the UK were deliberately making migrants, asylum seekers and refugees destitute.

The report, titled ‘The Effects of UK Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Policy on Poverty’, found that the previous government’s approach was not only ineffective, but it pushed costs on to local authorities, public service providers and the voluntary sector which step in to support people at risk of destitution.

Co-authored by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) on poverty and on migration, the report said it was: “hard to avoid the conclusion that policy is sometimes designed to push people into poverty in the hope that it will deter others from moving to the UK”.

A Labour government spokesperson told UK media in response to the new data: “We have inherited huge pressures in the asylum system, but we are working to make sure individuals have the support they need following an asylum decision and to help local authorities better plan their assistance with homelessness.

“Support for newly recognised refugees is available through Migrant Help and their partners, which includes advice on how to access Universal Credit, the labour market and where to get assistance with housing.”