Although the number of asylum seekers being housed in Southampton remains above one hundred, it has dropped from 112 to 105, as of December 31 2025.
This makes a decrease of seven, with these asylum seekers being housed in the Highfield House Hotel in Portswood.
This is the only hotel in Southampton that houses asylum seekers since the Home Office stopped using the Dolphin Hotel as accommodation.
Several demonstrations have taken place outside Highfield House Hotel, with anti-migrant protestors facing off against anti-racism campaigners every Friday during the summer of 2025.
Marie Finn, who represents the Portswood ward on Southampton City Council, said: “I don’t think the hotel is ideal, but I have no problem with the asylum seekers.
“They have been housed in the Highfield House Hotel for five years, and we haven’t had an issue until the summer.”
Cllr Finn said the case of Melaku Gebresembet, 22, who was moved out of Highfield House after being accused of sexually touching an employee while he stayed there, was not the standard of behaviour at the hotel.
Cllr Finn said: “It was an absolutely horrendous sexual assault, it is horrendous no matter who does it.”
“My heart goes out to the victims completely.”
She added: “Quite a few of the people in the hotel do voluntary work as they are allowed to, and make a contribution to the local community.
“In the vast majority of cases, there have been absolutely no problems.
“There is a wide variety of different asylum seekers in there, they are not a homogenous group at all.
“We are down to one hotel, which is going in the right direction.
“The plan is for the hotels to close and for the people to be moved to other accommodation.”
The Home Office operates the asylum seeker hotels, and are aiming to end the use of all hotels nationally by 2029.
Asylum seekers will be moved to ‘dispersed accommodation’ using military sites and barges, among other things for larger, more dedicated sites.
The Home Office has a statutory duty to provide accommodation for asylum seekers who appear to be destitute.