Monthly payments to UK hosts of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them to provide housing for more than six months amid the cost of living crisis, the minister responsible has said.
About 25,000 offers of accommodation from hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have been taken up so far, with an average of three Ukrainians living in each home, Richard Harrington said.
Six months after the Russian invasion, the government is asking existing hosts to allow Ukrainians to stay for longer than the minimum period of half a year, while also appealing for new sponsors.
The move comes amid soaring living costs, with energy bills expected to rise by 80% going into winter, rocketing inflation and rising interest rates.
Councils have also warned that homelessness could rise if refugees’ initial six-month placements with hosts end without alternative options in place.
Lord Harrington said he had been lobbying the Treasury “very hard” to double the £350-a-month “thank you” payment for sponsors who house refugees for longer than six months.
“The costs … they’re paying may be a big chunk of rent themselves, the mortgage payments have gone up and everything, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable, in my view, to increase the amount that we’re paying them,” he told PA Media.
More than 115,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under its visa schemes, according to latest government figures, including about 81,700 refugees via the sponsorship scheme.
Harrington said about 4,000-5,000 Ukrainians were arriving in the UK each week.
He added that the government had emailed everyone who initially expressed an interest in being a sponsor to see if they were still interested in taking part if they were not already hosting.
He said he expected about 50,000 of the 200,000-plus people who registered with the scheme will become hosts.
The government wants to recruit additional hosts in areas near to where refugees are being sponsored.
This would mean refugees who need to move from their sponsors are matched with new hosts nearby, so they do not need to leave communities where they have already put down roots.
“I’m not worried about the shortage of offers; I’m more concerned that they’re in the right area,” Harrington added.
More than 1,300 Ukrainian single households and families have been assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness as of 29 July.
He added that some councils have said they will act as guarantors for those wanting to rent homes, which he is trying to expand.
“I suspect some of them will need an extra budget to do it, but again, I can argue to the Treasury – it’s my job to say: ‘Well, you actually save money, because people then are not becoming homeless.’”
The minister said he also wanted to enable refugees to move into the private rented sector. Harrington said he had met groups representing landlords to ask if they would waive reference requirements for Ukrainian refugees.
An Office for National Statistics survey commissioned by Harrington this month found that the majority of hosts said the rising cost of living was hindering their ability to support Ukrainian refugees.
Almost a quarter (23%) of sponsors who said they would only be hosting a refugee for six months or less said their decision to not continue with the scheme was because they could no longer afford to.
Just under four in 10 (38%) said they would be encouraged to be a host for longer if more support was on offer.
The Treasury says the monthly “thank you” payments for hosts are to “recognise their generosity”, and do not affect benefit entitlement nor council tax status.
A spokesperson added: “We have already acted to make sure these payments are exempt from tax, and continue to monitor and review the support provided under the scheme.”
