LONDON (AP) — A small group of asylum-seekers has been moved to a barge moored in southern England as the U.K. government tries to cut the cost of sheltering people seeking protection in the country, British news media reported Monday.
The asylum-seekers were transferred to the Bibby Stockholm, a barge outfitted with temporary accommodations that will ultimately house up to 500 men moved from hotels or elsewhere in the country. More were expected to arrive later Monday.
The barge, owned by a Swedish company, was previously used to house oil field workers and migrants in other countries.
The U.K. government wants to use barges and former military bases to house some migrants as the cost of accommodating them in hotels soars.
Home Office Minister Sarah Dines told the BBC that people arriving in in the U.K. via unauthorized means should have “basic but proper accommodation” and that they “can’t expect to stay in a four-star hotel.”
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