In the UK, at least one in 14 refugees from Ukraine has been left homeless since June 2022 after their arrangements with their sponsoring families ended, The Telegraph newspaper reported.
► Subscribe to the Telegram channel “Ministry of Finance”: main financial news
What is known
Approximately 15,000 Ukrainians have applied for homelessness assistance – this is approximately 7.5% of the total number of Ukrainian citizens who have arrived in the UK since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion (under the Housing for Ukraine or family reunification programme). The newspaper added that in total “more than 200,000” Ukrainians came to the country under these programs.
This situation arose after the Committee on Public Accounts said to ensure an “adequate number of sponsors” for the Housing for Ukraine program “in a cost-effective way.”
Read: UK to extend visas for Ukrainian refugees by 18 months
As noted in the publication, the representative of the Local Government Refugee Association, Roger Gough, said that the mechanisms for funding and providing housing for refugees needed an “urgent review”.
The pressure of numerous asylum and resettlement schemes is still complicated by chronic shortages housing. This has resulted in large numbers of Ukrainians and refugees leaving asylum sites and being forced to seek help as homeless,” Gough said.
The country's Ministry of Public Works and Housing and Communal Services assumed that about 50% of Ukrainians in the Housing for Ukraine program could be left without asylum in the event of termination of agreements with sponsors. However, the newspaper added that approximately a third of English local councils regularly do not provide the government with data on Ukrainians left homeless.
Members of the UK Parliament also said that “the risk of homelessness among Ukrainians is likely to increase.” According to them, more and more sponsors are terminating or terminating their agreements.
“British sponsors are not obligated to host Ukrainian guests for the entire duration of their stay in the UK, and the British government only asks them to undertake an obligation to host guests during minimum six months. The government continued the gratitude payment [to sponsors] for a third year to encourage them to continue their sponsorship activities. However, there is a risk that the Ukrainian’s relationship with his sponsor may break down,” the members of parliament said in a statement.
Journalists noted that this information appeared after Ukrainians who had already received asylum in the UK had their visas extended for another 18 months.
Recall
On February 20, it became known that the UK government, as of February 19, terminated the Ukrainian Family Scheme. This is one of two possible schemes that allowed Ukrainian refugees to legally stay in the territory of the United Kingdom.
