RAF Henlow

RAF Henlow has been a Royal Air Force site since the First World War and the wider station retains live MoD use alongside vacant accommodation properties. The decision to use the surplus stock for Afghan ARAP resettlement is part of a broader pattern across the country where vacant MoD housing has been activated for ARAP families while permanent accommodation is found.

The House of Commons Library briefing on UK immigration schemes for Afghan nationals sets out the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. Both schemes were established in 2021 after the withdrawal of UK and allied armed forces from Afghanistan, with priority for those at risk under Taliban control because of their work assisting UK efforts. Both schemes were closed to new applicants on 1 July 2025^[3]Hansard.

Central Bedfordshire Council confirmed that it had approved Home Office funded resettlement support for Afghan families to be housed at RAF Henlow under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy for up to three years at zero cost to the council. The scheme takes families out of temporary accommodation and into settled accommodation while they integrate into the UK^[2]Council.

ARAP MoD housing operates on a different cost basis to the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[4]. Central Bedfordshire Council confirmed the resettlement support is Home Office funded at zero cost to the council, and the housing element uses vacant MoD stock rather than contingency hotel beds. The May 2025 NAO contract review average of about £5.84 million per year per asylum hotel is therefore not a like-for-like comparison^[5]NAO.