The federal government is weighing options for dealing with the ongoing crisis in housing for refugee claimants, with Immigration Minister Marc Miller saying it might even purchase hotels to convert them into refugee housing centres as a way of cutting costs.

Miller recently told the Globe and Mail newspaper that a more affordable way to house people claiming refugee status would be to buy hotels and convert them. Such a plan might also include bringing front-line workers into the buildings to provide services to claimants while they waited for their cases to be processed.