Asylum seekers have been living in basement rooms like “prison cells” in Crystal Palace for more than eight months, a refugee campaigner has claimed.

More than 450 people are living at Queen’s Hotel, run by private company Clearsprings on behalf of the Home Office, while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed.

Some have been waiting for more than eight months with no idea when they will be moved on from the hotel.

Under immigration rules, they are barred from working and are given around £40 a week, with meals provided at the hotels.

Footage seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service appear to asylum seekers in cramped windowless rooms with two single beds.

The Home Office said all rooms at the hotel meet “required building regulations for use as habitable rooms”.

Adam Yasir, co-chair of the Croydon Refugee and New Communities Forum, has been supporting those living at Queen’s Hotel.

He said many are sharing rooms with people who don’t speak the same language.

He said: “Some of the people reported not knowing whether it is day or night. They compare the conditions here to being in a prison cell.”

The refugee advocate said he complained to the Home Office about the conditions in February and is concerned about the mental health of those living in rooms with no windows.

Adam said at the end of January, a Kurdish man in his early 20s tried to take his own life – he was one of the people living in a basement room according to the volunteer. 

He added: “It was evidence of how their mental health has deteriorated.”

Croydon Council leader, Hamida Ali, said the council has no say over how Croydon hotels are chosen to house asylum seekers and refugees by the Home Office.

She said: “We want to have more of involvement in terms of where people are placed and the contracts in the borough. There are really problematic things happening across the country. We have highlighted an unsatisfactory situation at some hotels to the Home Office.”

A council report published in February detailed the conditions in some of the five hotels used to house 900 people across the borough.

This included residents facing cockroach infestations and Covid-19 outbreaks.

The council is calling on more financial support from the government for the extra support it has to provide for people living in the hotels.

This includes finding school places for children and carrying out hygiene inspections on hotels.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All asylum seekers housed at hotels receive fully furnished accommodation, including a choice of three meals a day and constant access to drinking water, as well as having their basic toiletries and utility costs covered.”

The hotel’s owner Best Western said it was unable to comment on the issues raised and Clearsprings did not respond to a request for comment.