Wates House Fareham: MP Suella Braverman urges council to lease flats earmarked for asylum seekers

More than 1,000 people have signed the Fareham and Waterlooville MP’s petition opposing Home Office plans to use Wates House, a 27-apartment building, as temporary accommodation for people seeking asylum in the UK.

It follows a recent protest by local residents expressing concerns about the additional impact on the community.

The MP has previously called for the council to buy the building from the landlord so it can be used for affordable housing for people on the council’s housing waiting list. However, the council has already ruled this out because the building did not meet the safety standards it needed, and they said it would not be cost effective to tax payers.

The council has also previously said the homes at Wates House were too small for those most in need on the housing list with a need for larger family homes instead of the smaller one and two-bedroom flats in the building.

Despite this, Mrs Braverman is now urging the council to lease the homes from its owner instead - effectively making them unavailable to the Home Office to use.

In a video message shared on her social media page she said: “I’ve been talking to many of you in the local community recently, I’ve not seen a situation like this before in my ten years of being your member of parliament where almost without exception people are worried, scared and strongly opposed to the proposal of putting this property for use by asylum seekers.

“I’m disappointed that Fareham Borough Council has decided not to purchase the property. We’ve got over 1,000 people waiting for accomodation locally and this property would be eminently suitable for them.

“What I’m urging the council to do is to seriously consider leasing Wates House from the owner and using it for local housing needs.”

As previously reported by The News, Fareham Borough Council has said it has been carrying out work to reduce the number of people on the housing list and in temporary accommodation, including the purchase of the Birks site in the town centre.

It says the number of households on the council’s waiting list has also reduced from 600 to approximately 300 households as a result.

In a previous statement it said: “Fareham Housing needs larger family homes, and homes that are suitable for disabled occupants, to have a real impact on the urgent and high need on the Housing Waiting List and Wates House is not suitable for either.