Hundreds of asylum seekers are being evicted from the hotel they’ve lived in for two years with just a week’s notice – and many haven’t been told where they are going.

A letter from Home Office subcontractor Clearsprings Ready Homes arrived on 18 January telling everyone in the east London hotel that it would “no longer be available” from 26 January.

The notice promised a “smooth” transfer to “suitable alternative” accommodation but openDemocracy has learnt that at the time of writing, some still haven’t been told where they’ll be moved to.

A rally took place outside the hotel this morning over the eviction, and local MP Stella Creasy said the “callous way” people had been treated by the Home Office was “shocking but sadly not surprising”.

The eviction forms part of the Home Office’s drive to end the housing of asylum seekers in hotels, a policy that has led to a huge surge in homelessness.

One woman from Iran told us she has been “full of stress and anxiety” since finding out about the eviction. Ava* arrived at the hotel in January 2023 with her one-year-old daughter and husband.

Ava and her family fled Iran after her husband converted to Christianity. She told openDemocracy being evicted with no information about where she was being taken had made her relive the ordeal of leaving her home.

“It's really hard because we experienced these things one time and now everything is happening again. When we came here, we had no idea which country we were going to, they just told us we're going somewhere safe, to a safe country. And then a year later it happened again,” she said.

Ava was eventually told she was being taken to a city almost two hours away by public transport.

Now, she fears her GCSE studies are at risk and has been told it will be difficult to enrol at another centre half-way through the academic year.

Ava, who said she has lost sleep since the eviction notice, said she called a government-funded helpline but was told her only options were to move to the new city she’s been allocated to, or to “end up on the street”.

“They kept saying that I have no choice because this is emergency accommodation, and that I must accept it,” she said.

She added: “I’m so scared because I don't know anybody there. I just kept thinking to myself, what will happen with college, what will happen with my daughter's nursery – I wanted to register her, and I found the place, what will happen with the work that I’m doing as a volunteer.”

Ava said in the year her family has been living in Waltham Forest, she had started to build a community and support network through her local church and by taking on three volunteering roles, including at council drop-ins and at a baby bank.

Like other residents, Ava was told she would only be able to take two suitcases, along with any other necessary items like pushchairs or wheelchairs.

Ava is also worried she will simply be placed in another cramped hotel room. “Hotels are not suitable for long term stays,” she added. “It’s me, my daughter and my husband, all living in one room,” she explained.

Her current hotel is in such disrepair that she was moved to four different rooms in the past year. One room given to the family had so much mould that she was forced to throw away clothes and shoes.

A caseworker for the families told openDemocracy the lack of proper notice is “disgraceful”.

“There's so much disregard for the fact that people have been living in this hotel for two years, and have built community ties. They've started to build a life while still living in a hotel which is difficult and isn't in the best condition.

“They all want to be put in adequate housing, and the hotel certainly isn't that, but it's just the way in which they’re given such little notice to plan their lives and just move from one place to the other.

“There are people with things like schools and exams and events and appointments coming up, so to just kind of have to completely upend your life and leave, it's just so inconsiderate and really shameful.”

Waltham Forest Council leader Grace Williams said the council has been “providing direct support to people in hotels in the borough over the last 18 months” as part of its work as a ‘Borough of Sanctuary’.

“The experience that many of these residents have had has been very poor, resulting in us escalating a number of concerns about safeguarding, welfare, and accommodation standards to the Home Office,” she said.

Williams added that Clearsprings wrote to residents without giving the council any notice of its decision, and expressed concern that “vulnerable people will yet again be moved to unsuitable hotels, hostels, or HMOs by the Home Office”.

She added: “This decision runs contrary to the government’s policies saying that it will manage hotel closures in a phased way to ensure that people seeking asylum are dispersed to suitable accommodation. These actions will have a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable in our community, including families with children and adults with acute medical needs.”

Clearsprings is one of the leading providers of asylum accommodation in the UK. Last year openDemocracy revealed the contractor tried to cram people into tiny hotel rooms without beds despite boasting of a £28m profit.

Clearsprings did not comment but instead referred us to a statement by the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesperson claimed that hotel stays for asylum seekers cost UK taxpayers £8.2m a day and said it is making “significant progress” with moving people out of hotels.

“Accommodation is allocated on a no-choice basis and individuals may be moved to other locations in line with the Allocation of Accommodation guidance. We work closely with accommodation providers and local authorities to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on partners and individuals alike.”

*Name has been changed