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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

406 replies

JapanesePotWeed · 24/09/2026 20:28

As the title says. I live in a Victorian mid-terrace, wall-to-wall, garden-to-garden with an asylum seeker dispersal HMO. They were moved in nearly two years ago, replacing a multi-generation family that were living there before.
There is another HMO directly opposite my house, where asylum seekers get rooms once they are approved to remain but don't have an income to support themselves.

Not AIBU but more like AMA. I'm wondering what people would ask me if they really could ask anything. Does anyone actually want to know what it is like? I hear a lot of political point scoring in the media regarding this topic but no one actually talks to people like me!

OP posts:
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poetryandwine · Today 11:03

5MinuteArgument · Today 09:53

Yes, that's why I'd like to see all the HMOs, hotels and barracks for asylum seekers put in the leafy suburbs and the quaint English villages. Because that's the only way the asylum racket will come to an end.

As long as it's overwhelmingly working class people who bear the brunt, little will change. The government are thinking ahead, clamping down on free speech and preparing space for protesters who they are fast-tracking into prison.

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No socioeconomic stratum of society should bear a disproportionate burden.

Pumpkindice · Today 11:12

poetryandwine · Today 11:03

No socioeconomic stratum of society should bear a disproportionate burden.

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Higher taxes for the very wealthy would help even that up, given that any solution (even trying to process and remove more people) requires more investment.
Though it's no suprise that reform, who pretend to care about those on low incomes, have central policies based on cutting tax for the wealthiest people.

Wiseplumnet · Today 11:23

I am finding this thread very interesting and informative. I live in a very rural part of Scotland and my politics have always been left leaning. However from what the OP is describing from her lived experience I can understand better how the far right is getting such a strong hold on power especially in urban areas where local authorities and businesses are not listening to people's concerns. The only people from 'Over seas' as they are termed where I live are Health and social care agency workers not asylum seekers.

DownToTheGround · Today 11:28

Pumpkindice · Today 10:40

I was just wondering if the same people wanting to move asylum seekers to more expensive housing would be happy with the extra cost to the public purse. I recall a news story where asylum seekers were moved to houses on a new build estate in a naice area and it led to lots of news stories about 'boat people' being 'given' brand new houses (lots of people believed they were actually given them as permanent free homes) and the reaction was such that the families were terrified and extra security had to be put in, as the street was being posted online and there were threats for people to drive them out of the homes.
I do know a fair few accommodations in suburbs but they're suburbs of a multi cultural northern town so not actually very expensive. I can only imagine how people would react if it was perceived they were being moved to desirable areas though, ie places where those on benefits or low incomes can't afford to live.

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Yes, the issues are not easy to solve. My ‘you can’t please everyone all of the time’ view stands here. Nicer areas, bigger bill.

Look how Kemi Badenoch tied herself in knots when being interviewed regarding people who are living on benefits should not live in nice areas, nicer than a working person can afford.

IME asylum and refugees housed in ‘nicer’ areas (through altruistic landlords) were welcomed. In fact, local people were asked to be less giving with charity donations, clothing, household items as this was causing unrest on a local council estate - ‘why are they being given free stuff and not us’.

Yet this was a nice area with racist attitudes towards the British Pakistani community living not too far from them.

Dispersal of asylum and refugees has the added benefit of families and individuals being soaked into local communities, rather than living as a large collective who do not need to interact with local people. This influences behaviours and values.

My experiences of expats (immigrants) on the Spanish Costa’s shows me how people of any nation prefer the familiar, prefer what they perceive to be people ‘like them’, choose to communicate in their own language, buy their own ‘English breakfast’ etc.

BitterTits · Today 11:30

You've contradicted yourself a bit in the value of your house. If it could be snapped up at twice it's value, why not just sell it? You can't change the situation on your own.

5MinuteArgument · Today 12:04

Wiseplumnet · Today 11:23

I am finding this thread very interesting and informative. I live in a very rural part of Scotland and my politics have always been left leaning. However from what the OP is describing from her lived experience I can understand better how the far right is getting such a strong hold on power especially in urban areas where local authorities and businesses are not listening to people's concerns. The only people from 'Over seas' as they are termed where I live are Health and social care agency workers not asylum seekers.

Yes, it's happening all over. It's interesting reading about what's happening in Glasgow where the council is now under severe financial strain as its own rules mean that it houses single males who've just been granted LTR. This has created a pull factor which has increased the homelessness burden in Glasgow and led to opposition and protests.

I wish more people would be like you and listen to what people are saying, instead of dismissing anyone who has concerns as stupid.

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