A leading charity which has been helping the government reconcile Ukrainian refugees with UK hosts after initial placements end or break down is to scale back its work because they say the plan is unworkable.
Refugees at Home is one of five community and voluntary organizations listed as ‘recognised providers’ on the gov.uk website to help match and reconcile Ukrainian refugees with UK hosts.
Accommodation agreements are for a minimum of six months and many are coming to an end after the scheme opened in March this year. As fewer UK hosts are coming forward, recombination requests from Ukrainians are increasing.
Many Ukrainian households have been left homeless, around a third of them in London. According to government figures from February 24, 2022 to August 26, 2022, municipalities registered 1,565 Ukrainian households as homeless.
Refugees at Home said: “We very much regret that Refugees at Home cannot help with any reconciliation requests under the Homes for Ukraine scheme for placements that were not originally made through Refugees at Man.”
The statement added: “This is due to the conditions and requirements of the Houses for Ukraine scheme.
“In addition to the hosts and guests, we have been approached by a number of local authorities who have asked us to support them in holding these rematches. Unfortunately, we are unable to do so due to the complexities surrounding the current scheme.”
The Association of Local Governments has also expressed concern about the housing situation for Ukrainian refugees. Its chairman, Cllr James Jamieson, said councils, Ukrainians and the hosts needed “certainty” about the next steps.
“There is concern that more Ukrainian families will have to report as homeless as a result of a lack of sponsors or other options,” he said. “As the number of Ukrainians reporting homelessness continues to gradually increase alongside the cost of living crisis, support for sponsors may need to be improved to encourage new or existing hosts to sponsor long term as inflation and energy costs rise.” he said
Robina Qureshi, chief executive of Positive Action In Housing, which has matched more than 350 Ukrainians with hosts in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, said there were “layers and layers of chaos” in the UK’s housing scheme. government along with a lack of strategy.
“NGOs are doing what we can based on our own experience, but we are seeing a ticking time bomb,” he said.
Sara Nathan, co-founder of Refugees at Home, said the charity’s work on initial matches between Ukrainians and UK hosts would continue but would only work on reconciliation requests from Ukrainian refugees they had done the initial accommodation. All other recombination requests are now being rejected.
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In September, the charity rejected 60 recovery applications: “We are concerned that there doesn’t seem to be any strategic movement. It has been very difficult for us to help with the rematch. It is too bureaucratic and there is no mechanism for an authority to local speak to another about this. There has to be a policy to deal with it. We can’t wait for local authorities to do it,” Nathan said.
A government spokesman said: “We continue to work closely with refugees at home and councils to ensure families have somewhere to stay.
“We are grateful to the hosts for their generosity and goodwill over the past six months, and most sponsors want to continue to host.
“For guests who do move, we launched rematching in May, which has been successful in finding permanent accommodation for families and we are working with councils to expand this service.”