Refugees, Migration and Housing in Glasgow 2026

Key points

• Immigration is not a devolved issue, so the Scottish Parliament does not set policy, but it has become a major topic in the Holyrood election campaign.
• A BBC poll placed immigration among the most important issues for voters ahead of the 7 May vote for MSPs.
• Most of the recent increase in migration to Scotland has come through official routes such as international student visas, not through small‑boat crossings.
• Smaller numbers of people arriving via unofficial routes, such as small boats across the English Channel, have dominated political debate about immigration.
• Glasgow has become a particular focus of controversy, especially in relation to asylum‑seeker housing and the impact of migration on the local housing market.
• BBC Verify has been examining claims made by political leaders about how asylum and migration affect housing in Scotland and in Glasgow in particular.

Glasgow (Glasgow Express) April 28, 2026Glasgow has become a flashpoint in the national debate over how asylum seekers and broader migration patterns affect housing, even though immigration policy itself remains the responsibility of the UK government in Westminster. As voters prepare to elect MSPs on 7 May, parties across the spectrum have been asked to explain how they see the interaction between asylum policy, other migration routes, and the availability and affordability of homes in Scotland’s largest city. BBC Verify has been scrutinising the claims made by politicians and interest‑group spokespeople about the size and nature of these effects, amid a wider backdrop of sharply rising net migration to Scotland and the UK as a whole.

How has immigration changed in Scotland?

Scotland has seen a substantial rise in net migration in recent years, mirroring a broader UK‑wide surge. Analysis from the Office for National Statistics and the National Records of Scotland shows that most of the increase has come from people arriving through official channels, including international students, care‑sector workers and those using humanitarian routes for Ukrainians and Hong Kongers.

As explained by Esther Roughsedge, head of population and migration statistics at National Records of Scotland, international student numbers have grown sharply, with cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh absorbing much of this influx.

In the years leading up to 2022–23, net migration to Scotland reached record levels, with tens of thousands more people moving in from outside the UK than leaving.

This has contributed to population growth and to pressure on public services, including housing, but the official statistics themselves do not single out asylum seekers as the main driver of this change. Instead, the bulk of the rise is attributed to work‑related visas, study visas and other legally sanctioned routes.

How do asylum seekers fit into the picture?

The number of people arriving in the UK via unofficial routes, such as small boats crossing the English Channel, is much smaller than the total number entering through official channels.

However, this lower‑number but highly visible cohort has become central to political and media narratives about immigration. In Glasgow, a significant share of asylum seekers in Scotland have been dispersed to the city’s accommodation network, including hotels and other temporary housing, which has concentrated the issue in one urban area.

BBC Verify has examined statements by politicians who argue that asylum seekers are “taking” housing that would otherwise be available to local residents. Fact‑checking these claims has involved comparing the scale of asylum‑seeker arrivals with the total number of homes, the number of people using the private rental sector, and the broader supply‑and‑demand dynamics in Glasgow’s housing market.

The outlet has reported that while asylum seekers do occupy a portion of the city’s housing stock, the number of people involved is small compared with the overall population and the wider flow of migration into Glasgow.

What are political parties saying?

Ahead of the Holyrood election, all major parties have set out positions on how migration and asylum policy interact with housing. Some politicians have emphasised the need to tighten controls on irregular migration and to reduce the number of people arriving by small boat, arguing that this would help ease pressure on public services and housing. Others have focused on the role of student visas and work visas in boosting the economy, while also calling for more investment in affordable housing to meet the needs of both new arrivals and existing residents.

BBC News has reported that a poll commissioned for the broadcaster placed immigration among the top concerns for Scottish voters, even though MSPs cannot change the basic rules of who can enter the UK.

This has led some parties to highlight their criticism of the UK government’s approach and to argue that more powers over housing and planning should be used to address the knock‑on effects of migration decisions taken in Westminster.

How visible is the impact in Glasgow?

In Glasgow, asylum‑seeker accommodation has become a visible issue, particularly where hotels and other temporary facilities have been used to house claimants while their cases are processed. Local residents and campaigners have complained about the concentration of such sites in certain neighbourhoods, citing concerns about noise, cleanliness and the strain on local services.

At the same time, advocacy groups have pointed out that many of the people in these facilities are waiting months or even years for decisions on their asylum claims, during which they are not allowed to work and have limited access to the mainstream housing market.

BBC Verify’s reporting has shown that while asylum seekers can influence the demand for certain types of temporary housing, the broader shortage of affordable homes in Glasgow is shaped by factors such as long‑term under‑supply of social housing, tight planning constraints, and the high cost of private‑sector rentals.

Other commentators, including think‑tanks such as the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, have noted that the overall rise in migration to Scotland through work and study routes likely has a larger quantitative effect on demand for housing than the smaller number of asylum seekers.

What do the numbers suggest?

Migration‑data analysts quoted by the BBC and other outlets have stressed that the headline “net migration” figure for Scotland includes students, workers and other migrants, not just asylum seekers. For example, in the 2021–22 period, the net migration flow to Scotland was around 36,000 from outside the UK, with a further 12,000 net gain from the rest of the UK, and a substantial share of that growth attributable to international students.

This pattern is consistent with the broader UK trend, where education‑related migration has accounted for hundreds of thousands of arrivals in recent years.

In contrast, the number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has been much smaller in absolute terms, though politically very salient. Campaign groups such as Policy Exchange have labelled the Channel crossings a “small‑boats emergency,” focusing on the costs of processing claims and accommodating asylum seekers, but they too acknowledge that the scale of the flow is dwarfed by legal migration routes. When applied to Glasgow, this means that while asylum‑seeker housing is a tangible local issue, it forms only one part of a much larger picture of population growth and housing stress.

What are Glasgow residents seeing on the ground?

Local reporting from Glasgow outlets has documented mixed experiences. Some residents in areas where asylum‑seeker hotels operate have complained that the presence of such facilities has coincided with a worsening local‑housing crisis, linking the arrival of claimants to higher rents and fewer properties on the market. Other voices, including community‑organisation workers and housing‑advocacy groups, have argued that the real problem is a lack of new social housing and the impact of private‑sector landlords consolidating large portfolios, which they say affects both migrants and non‑migrants alike.

BBC Verify has examined specific claims that asylum seekers occupy homes that could otherwise be rented by local families, matching the numbers of asylum seekers in Glasgow with the total number of available properties and the rate of migration‑driven household formation. The outlet’s analysis has suggested that while migration of all kinds increases demand for housing, the contribution of asylum seekers to that demand is relatively small compared with the overall movement of students, workers and internal migrants into the city.

Background to this development

The debate over refugees and housing in Glasgow must be seen against the wider context of rising immigration to the UK after Brexit and the restructuring of the points‑based system under the Conservative government. Policy changes that reintroduced post‑study work routes and expanded work‑visa eligibility for care workers helped make the UK more attractive to international students and labour‑market migrants, pushing net migration to record highs.

At the same time, the persistence of small‑boat crossings across the Channel has ensured that asylum and irregular migration remain politically sensitive topics, even though their numerical contribution to overall migration is limited.

Scotland’s population trends have mirrored this national pattern, with cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh absorbing a disproportionate share of new arrivals, particularly students and skilled workers. Glasgow’s housing market, already marked by a long‑term shortage of social housing and a high reliance on the private rental sector, has therefore felt the effects of both official migration and asylum‑seeker dispersal.

The fact that immigration policy is set at Westminster, but that housing and planning are devolved matters, has created a political fault line in which Scottish parties must respond to a UK‑level issue using tools available only within Holyrood.

Prediction: How this development could affect audiences

For Glasgow residents, the way asylum and migration are framed in the election campaign is likely to shape expectations about who is “to blame” for housing shortages and how policymakers should respond. If the narrative continues to emphasise asylum seekers over the broader flows of students and workers, local discourse may focus on dispersal rules and temporary‑accommodation policy, while under‑emphasis may be placed on the need for large‑scale investment in social and affordable housing.