Will you be opening your home up to Ukrainian refugees?

[musicalfrog]

Interested to see how popular this will be considering so many of us want desperately to make a tangible difference.

My OH wouldn't be up for it I don't think, and we don't have a spare room so I will avoid that particular argument. But otherwise I think it would be such a great thing to do.

The govt is asking for a minimum commitment of 6 months. Will you be signing up?

I’ve been thinking of this, those big empty tower blocks in London, built by overseas investors would be ideal.

@Ilostit

No cos the doors were not opened by anyone in this country for people like me of and my colour. So no I would not for Ukrainians.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Strength to Love, 1963. Martin Luther King quotation

If we had the space we would.

Just for the record, no I've never housed a refugee from any war torn country; but I've given money and my time, which I'm prepared to do again.

I would like to directly sponsor a host family / refugee family if possible. I can offer administrative help, guidance on local services and other support - as I have done before for a Kurdish refugee family from the Iraqi-Syrian border area. This included (successfully) taking on a hostile Home Office over visas.

We can all help in some way. And we can help those who can offer a roof and a bed to pay their extra bills.

That's what I think anyway.

@Ijustneedtosleep21

No. Even if I had the space I wouldn't put my children in that situation.

No, how dreadful for your children to be put in the position of helping people in need.

My DGM's family had an evacuee family living with them during the Second World War (mum with very tiny baby at first and two slightly older children), but I think it was a bit easier. There was no language barrier, the mums were at home all the time (plus they had a cook/housekeeper) and for them, going to live in the countryside was something that they actually really enjoyed — the family actually moved nearby in the late 40s. And although obviously she was very worried about her husband, pretty much everybody had husbands/sons/relatives fighting so there were lots of people in the same boat.

It's a bit of a different proposition for people moving to a completely different country, which isn't actually at war. I don't know whether being in groups with other Ukrainians would be better — that depends on the government and councils setting things up though.

If I had the room I definitely would. I wfh and live with my 12 yo son so I would be perfectly comfortable with it. I live rurally though, so a refugee would be pretty isolated with little in public transport provision.

I would if I had a spare room. Sadly I don't have the money or space but otherwise I would definitely open up my home to a women and child/children.

I’m prepared to take a chance on the individual refugee and their child (children) and we have a tiny school in our village who I’m sure would welcome any children. But it’s the finances that really worry me I can absorb the inevitable and significant increase and the increases in cost I’m facing anyway.

@ancientgran

I hope Johnson lets them use Chequers. He has a perfectly good flat in Downing St and now we've all seen the spacious garden so he could easily let some live at Chequers for say a year.

This. How about the Royal family housing them in one of their many many huge houses.

Can’t not can!!

No spare room otherwise I would definitely have considered it.

I would consider it but we don’t have the space. No spare room.

Or how about the many very large homes in London and the SE currently owned by Russian Oligarchs standing empty?

Im signed up with the charity that links refugees with rooms, but we live rurally so we dont get linked. I didnt know there was a government scheme too. To be specific though I am signed up for any refugees. Is the government link for any refugees? Because im offering a room because i have space, skin colour doesnt impact space needed and im uncomfortable signing up to a scheme that only prioritises one set of refugees

No due to space but if we had it I think I'd still possibly decline. We live rurally and now rely on one car which is used for work every day. That would leave anyone isolated with no transport including public. While they would be safe, I don't think it would be the right environment.

DH and I discussed this last night. He seemed keen, but I think he has the rose-tinted view already discussed on here and likened it to when we had a Slovakian au pair living with us .
I think I am more pragmatic and realistic about it and I just know that I would be the person who would bear the organisational stress of it, the mental load and worry and the expansion of the day-to-day chores like food shopping/ cleaning / finding children schools/ helping with paperwork etc. He would bugger off to his office and tell everyone how 'we' were helping refugees.
I've only recently emerged from a twenty-year 'fog' of caring for children (one with SN) and elderly parents with degenerative illnesses and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to take it on.

I actually think that Ukrainian’s would be better seeking asylum in neighbouring Eastern bloc countries, which will feel more familiar to them and their way of life. It will be easier for them then to return to Ukraine to rebuild after the conflict, assuming it’s possible for them To return.

Uk and other Western European countries should then help with aid relief to the hosting countries.

I wouldn’t be prepared to host Ukrainian refugees in my home, or any other refugees or even British homeless people, because I don’t have the space and you just wouldn’t know who you were admitting into your home.

I think that a scheme similar to that operated in the Second World War where rural families took in city children would be OK, although there are some risks to children, I guess. It would be housing adults that would concern me, I don’t think it is safe.

If a child needed a home then yes of course but I couldn’t risk allowing an adult who I don’t know into my home due to my children.

Possibly as we have a spare double room, but only one bathroom which would make it more difficult but we'd manage! We also live in a village which is probably not ideal for someone.

I would imagine many people in Europe are also struggling financially but are still taking people in.

@Cryofthecurlew

Or how about the many very large homes in London and the SE currently owned by Russian Oligarchs standing empty?

Yes these would be perfect, and the bills could be paid for by withdrawing money from the frozen bank accounts.

@Cannotfindanewname

There are so many things to consider in housing a refugee. It's easy to become blinded by the feeling of need to do something to help, that the bigger picture isn't really considered, and people are caught up in a romanticised ideal of how it would work. Right now many people are on the bare bones of their arse just trying to stay afloat with the huge increases in nearly every aspect of living. Will there be some sort of funding available from the government to help absorb the extra cost that housing refugees will entail? They will need food, gas, electric, water...they will be unable to work, where will the extra money come from? Will there be any form of support for the refugees, considering the trauma they have been through, in the form of psychological/emotional support? Will there be some form of support available to the families that house refugees, should things go south? How will the refugees transport themselves if they need to attend any appointments, seeing as they will have no vehicle and no money for public transport? How will those housing refugees deal with the language barrier? Not everyone can speak English, how on earth will you communicate? You can't compare housing refugees with house shares, each sharer takes full responsibility for their share of the bills/food/transportation etc (and after watching too much "Worst Roommates" on discovery plus I don't think I could even consider a house share 😂). Having discussed these issues with my husband last night, it's not something that we're willing to take on.

Excellent post, Cannotfindanewname We get these threads every time there's a crisis, and although this is a major one, it's sometimes just an opportunity to virtue signal in the knowledge that hardly anyone's ever going to say "Well, how are you getting on with your house guest?"

In any case the refugee housing issue's well known by now, and IME those genuinely committed to charitable efforts - of whatever type - tend to do it without the wish to advertise themselves

In theory it sounds like a humanitarian and kind thing to do. But in practice, I think it would be very difficult, and that refugees would be better in hotels, where they would have their own space.

There are practical issues. Who pays for the food, who does the cooking? Would you be prepared to have someone else cooking in your kitchen, or would everyone eat together, and who chooses what to eat?

There is a rosy view of grateful Ukrainians being happy to live with someone else. In reality, they are probably traumatized, and resentful at being forced to leave their homes. I can't imagine everyone settling down together to watch the news.

It will be mostly women and children, as a lot of the men are fighting. If you have children of your own, what happens if they don't get on?

The language difficulties too. When we see people being interviewed on TV, the language used is English, but realistically, most Ukrainians won't speak English.

All in all, hotels seem the better option, although still not ideal.

I think I may have submitted an interest form a few months ago when people were fleeing Afghanistan.

My OH (no ex) was a firm no to single men due to cultural differences/I work from home alone. I put on the form for two spare bedrooms for women/children but received an automatic reply saying that they searching for capacity for men.

Im more inclined to the Ukrainian crisis as I do have the space, and hopefully culturally it may work easier (we live in a sleepy English village, no access to mosques/halal food/council provisions for this kind of thing) - it’s just the issue with the language barrier with the Ukrainians, and while I’ll be happy to work with hand waving and leaving notes via google translate hopefully it will be fairly temporary (my house hasn’t been bombed, having a family lodging is the least I can do).

Does anyone have any more info at all?

No as no room.
Years ago having had lodgers, It really depends on personality-
Sharing a kitchen and bathroom needs selflessness all round.
Things can really get annoying fast if you don’t agree on sharing space.