UK spends billions on hotels for refugees — and Spain is close behind

The cost of housing refugees in hotels is soaring: from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion

What does it really cost to house refugees in hotels? The figures handled by the UK point to a multi-billion-pound bill that is growing out of control, and Spain is juggling an estimate of its own that stings.

The British hole: from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion

The parliamentary figures from the Home Office are devastating. In 2018, the system housed 47,500 people. By June of this year, the number had surpassed 103,000. The initial budget for the 2019-2029 period was £4.5 billion; it now stands at £15.3 billion. A 240% overrun that is no accident, but the result of a migration policy that turns human drama into a business.

The money is not just spent: it is invested in hotels whose prices — with no one checking — are frequently above market rates. The suspicion that plenty of people close to politics are running a thriving hotel business on the back of housing immigrants at public expense runs through every debate.

Spain: €2.5 billion a year?

With no official data worth trusting, someone has gone to the trouble of calculating it. The Spanish hotel sector turns over about €25 billion a year. Housing 100,000 people for twelve months is equivalent to 10% of total overnight stays (360 million). As a rough estimate, that comes to €2.5 billion. It could be more, because the prices paid for this kind of accommodation are rarely what you would pay on Booking.

The question hanging in the air is: how much of that money ends up in the hands of friendly business owners? The same mechanism operates here as in the UK: the state injects funds that then circulate through the whole economy, from hoteliers to telecom companies and supermarkets. It's the black-and-white industry, as some call it, where everyone wins and nobody looks at the price.

The inflationary effect of the money-printing machine

The recurring argument is that this money does not come from taxes but from European funds and the banknote printer. The consequence is the inflation we all suffer. Real estate assets rise (key in a country where almost all wealth is of that kind), and so do the prices of food, gas and electricity. And all of it is paid for with money that, in reality, belongs to no one. Until the bill arrives, of course.

Meanwhile, natives sleep on the street. And those who warn about the budget overrun are branded as lacking solidarity. The business is perfect: everyone wins, and the one who pays the price is always the same.

With these numbers, the question is not whether we can afford it, but whether we want to know what it really costs.

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