Nearly 5,000 asylum seekers are living in homes paid for by the taxpayer in the West Midlands – the fourth highest total in the country, according to latest figures.

More than 1,800 are in the four Black Country boroughs, and another 1,695 in Birmingham.

Home Office figures show that 14 per cent of the national total of asylum seekers are living in “dispersal accommodation” in the West Midlands.

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Nearly 5,000 asylum seekers are living in homes paid for by the taxpayer in the West Midlands – the fourth highest total in the country, according to latest figures.

More than 1,800 are in the four Black Country boroughs, and another 1,695 in Birmingham.

Home Office figures show that 14 per cent of the national total of asylum seekers are living in “dispersal accommodation” in the West Midlands.

Accommodation is provided by councils, housing associations and registered private landlords, and paid for by the National Asylum Support Service, taxpayer-funded as part of the Home Office.

At the end of September, 715 asylum seekers waiting for the results of their applications were being provided with homes in Wolverhampton; 595 in Dudley; 375 in Sandwell; and 130 in Walsall.

A further 610 asylum seekers live in the region outside of state-funded homes on “subsistence only” benefits. Figures show 340 asylum seekers in Wolverhampton were on income support, 105 in Sandwell, 30 in Birmingham and a further 80 across the rest of the West Midlands. There were 3,635 failed asylum seekers deported in three months to the end of September. The previous quarter there were 5,070.