Campaigners placing Ukrainian refugees with Bristol families say they get around twenty requests for help each day, but that no potential hosts have come forward for over a month. As a result, one dedicated organiser says “hundreds” of people – mainly women and children – are seeking homes here without success.
Vera Stadon Postavska has lived in England since 1997 and in Bristol since 2002. She co-founded the Facebook page Sunflower Sisters - Ukraine/UK, which assists mainly women and families fleeing to Britain from war-torn Ukraine.
Vera says she gets around twenty contacts from frightened families in Ukraine each day, but can do little to help as offers to host them have dried up. “There are hundreds of people I would like to place here,” she said.
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“Because the situation is not improving in Ukraine, more and more people are making the decision to leave the country. We have requests from people who want to come, but we have no hosts.”
She added: “I’ve had no offers of accommodation for the last six weeks or so. So we have people who would love to bring their children to safety but I can’t help and it just breaks my heart.”
Besides this shortfall, Vera says refugees who found shelter are having difficulty moving on from their temporary arrangement. The Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme asked willing households to spare a room for at least six months, in return for a £350-per-month “thank you payment” to help cover the costs of sheltering refugees.
But with the war dragging on longer than many analysts suspected, many hosts and guests are seeking more permanent accommodation – and finding the transition “impossible” due to high prices and cautious letting agents.
“Even if people have a wonderful relationship with their hosts, these hosts want their place and their life back eventually,” said Vera. “They have a responsibility to these people, so they can’t just throw them on the streets. But even with your own children there comes a time you want them to move out.
“But when they look into rental accommodation it’s practically impossible. These people have no credit rating, no long-term jobs, small incomes, so it’s impossible to rent anywhere. The only way to rent is to not go through official routes, but that raises the potential for people to be scammed – there’s a lot of that going on.”
Bristol City Council reports that 498 Ukrainian refugees had arrived in the city by August 4. The local authority’s Refugee Resettlement Housing Team is inviting landlords to “work in partnership with the council and rent their homes to refugee families.
Bristol Live asked for more details of how the council is encouraging landlords and letting agencies to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
The Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is overseeing the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which was launched in March. A spokesperson called host families “the backbone of the scheme”, pointing out that “their generosity has helped over 81,700 people find safety here in the UK”.
They added: “We are working closely with councils to ensure Ukrainians have access to suitable housing if they decide to move on. All arrivals have access to benefits from day one and we are giving councils an extra £10,500 for every arrival from Ukraine in their local area to cover their costs.”
Lord Richard Harrington, Minister for Refugees, told The Telegraph this week that Britain has "a big surplus" of potential hosts, adding that the Government will advertise for more applicants from September. Vera is urging more Bristol-based hosts to come forward and more landlords to open their hearts – and rent their homes – to families fleeing the violence.
“If we could get more hosts or more people who could provide rental accommodation, that would be great,” she said. “We need more landlords to contact the council and work with them to offer more accommodation.
“I know maybe two people who have managed to find rental accommodation so far. It’s a very complex situation and it feels like there’s no way out. I think the Government needs to offer more.”
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