HOMELESS people in one of the UK’s most deprived towns say they have become “invisible” as authorities prioritise accommodating Channel migrants over their own citizens.
A GB News investigation found people – including youngsters and army veterans – were being left to sleep rough on the streets of Blackpool, while more than 300 asylum seekers were being housed just yards away in one of the town’s most iconic hotels.
The probe also found that a Home Office contractor is looking for another THREE hotels in the Blackpool area to accommodate hundreds more Channel migrants.
It is a situation that is stoking growing local anger in a town which is currently celebrating “illuminations” season.
But amidst the bright lights, there is a darker side to the UK’s most popular beach resort with the homeless rate in the local area now twice the national average.
It comes as local authorities across the country are struggling to cope with the additional burden of accommodating thousands of asylum seekers in their areas.
In towns like Blackpool, the problem is so acute, that the services on offer for the growing number of homeless here are under intense strain.
For the past year, the town’s Metropole Hotel has been home to around 300 hundred mainly male asylum seekers.
In the shadow of the historic hotel, the town’s homeless, like 49-year-old Sketch, are forced to bed down for the night in nearby shop doorways.
Sketch told GB News’ home and security editor Mark White: “I’m invisible. I am literally invisible.
“People walk past. They don’t even see us.”
His story sums up the absurdity of the Channel migrant crisis.
“It’s wrong” Sketch said. “Wrong, because you’re looking at the real homeless here.
“And putting them in there and leaving us on the streets, it’s wrong.”
GB News has been told that a Home Office contractor has been actively seeking to requisition three more hotels in Blackpool to house hundreds more asylum seekers.
Blackpool Promotions, which owns five hotels in the area, confirmed it had been approached and made a lucrative offer to house migrants.
The company’s operations director John Westhead said they turned down the offer on this occasion but may well consider it in future.
“It’s something we obviously have to consider as an organisation. Some of the figures that are on offer are extremely lucrative,” he said.
“It’s been a very damaging few years in hospitality and it doesn’t look to be getting any easier with the cost of living crisis.
“So when something like that comes along, where you guarantee the year and you’re full all the time, then yeah I can see quite easily why it would be considered by some.”
With 50,000 hotel and bed and breakfast rooms across Blackpool, it is an obvious target for Home Office contractors looking for more migrant accommodation.
Scott Benton, the area’s Conservative MP, said he would be on the front line of the protests if any further hotels are requisitioned for use by asylum seekers.
“The Home Office knows exactly what I will do because I’ve had this conversation with them multiple times.
“And local people will join me in doing so because this community has far too many challenges already.
“The local authority cannot assimilate and accommodate hundreds and hundreds more asylum seekers in this community.”
