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?

@RedWingBoots

No.

I will only open my home to people who are like me and my family. None of them are like Ukrainians.

I'm being as offensive as many of the posts on this issue since the invasion who think racism in the treatment of refugees and those fleeing war zones doesn't matter.

No idea what tortured point you're trying to make, but yes I do indeed think this post is offensive, and have reported it. Assume that was the attention you were seeking?

I'd absolutely love to but we are already over crowded in a two bedroomed house 😢

If I had the space I wouldn’t hesitate to take people in. I really wish I could. We have our own business and would give them jobs too.

When we lived in town we hosted language students so we are used to having strangers around. Make some lifelong friends along the way. Our location isn't suitable for that now. We have offered space to some elderly people we know should they wish to come but support would be an issue in a rural area as only 1 of the 3 speaks English , we don't dpesk thrir language and we are several miles from a GP etc. May be academic at the moment as they aren't in the UK and may well go elsewhere.

I think anyone who's genuinely going to do it is bloody amazing! You have my utmost respect.

I should like to, if I was a whole different person living another life. I like the idea of it but the reality would swamp me. I would love to volunteer with refugee children a couple of hours a week though, give their mum a break, help to introduce English to them. I don't know if that'll become a thing here in rural Cornwall though.

Considering the issues most Mumsnetters seem to have with even family visiting for a short period, I am surprised at the number on this thread offering to host

As already said, "offering" to host on here isn't the same as actually registering to do so

Interesting too that the website "RefugeesatHome" which so many have linked makes it clear that hosting can be for many months and that most of the "guests" are men - something worth bearing in mind, perhaps, for any who prefer to host women and children only

I will. Signed up to help Afgans too but never heard back. Wonder if it will be different because most Ukrainian refugees appear to be white.

I would definitely consider it but can't imagine DH would be too keen. We have spare room with ensuite so could take a woman and 1-2 children. I wouldn't have a man in the house.

The govt could solve this crisis (and the housing crisis generally) by building prefab houses like we did after ww2. We have loads of brown field sites these could be located on, with buses laid on to get to toen centres and schools. Okay, it's not the most beautiful locations but this housing would be new and safe and there is already gas/electricity laid on. Think about how much space is wasted just on abandoned industrial parks. And those post war prefabs lasted for decades. Then people could fundraise to help support these people, which is a much better solution than random people (who may or may not have good intentions) offering rooms.

@VisaQuestions

DH and I between us have 26 fairly close relatives in Ukraine. (Levels of aunts, parents nieces, cousins and children). It’s horrible as we care, but it’s far beyond what we can house in a 3 bed house.

So far though most are actually swearing blind they will not leave for any reason. Some volunteering, some saying the west is safe enough in their villages, some looking at the condition of the border and the unknown and thinking it’s more risk than staying.

Friends we know have links in Europe, due to friends and family being able to travel and work there freely, to go to. We don’t, apart from 3 immediate family members, actually know anyone else who wants to reach the UK. It’s expensive to survive, hard to work, a big language barrier, different culture and has risks such as travel. Hopefully, only those with family here want to come, and most don’t get to worried about the barriers up.

Inevitably, the vast majority of refugees will remain in the bordering territories. I've been trying to find ways of actively supporting e.g. Polish families who have taken in refugees. Perhaps giving money to the relevant charities is simply most effective but if anyone knows of 'adopt a family' initiatives please let me know. Having a direct connection would possibly be a good positive learning action for families whose kids are asking how to help.

I would love to do it but a) it is a small house b) I'm don't think my husband quite so keen tbh.

No. We don't have space, for starters.

I would love to, but I don’t have a spare room. The kids and i did think about us bunking down in my room and giving their two rooms (box rooms) up to people in need. Or me bunking in with my daughter in her box room and I let a family have my room. But I don’t know how that would work or if it would be allowed. I live in a very small 3bed semi (1bathroom, small kitchen, small living room downstairs. 3 bedrooms upstairs) with my two kids. I’m a single parent, working FT. But my family is from Iraq and Syria…and once upon a time, we were in their shoes.

Yes with open arms. As hard as it will be I hope it adds to our family. I would love to see our MPs lead by example and take family’s themselves.

@Kathryn2010

Yes with open arms. As hard as it will be I hope it adds to our family. I would love to see our MPs lead by example and take family’s themselves.

Anyone? Or certain parameters?

We do have a spare bedroom and if we moved things around, a spare living room so it’s something we will consider. We’ll wait for the full details of the scheme to be announced next week.

I do have a few concerns though. DS has SEN and is sitting his GCSEs in May so I can’t risk anything disrupting him. Also, due to personal reasons, I couldn’t consider a teenage boy. My mum is also thinking about it so it may be that one of us could house a family and others in the family help financially.

@ImAvingOops

The govt could solve this crisis (and the housing crisis generally) by building prefab houses like we did after ww2. We have loads of brown field sites these could be located on, with buses laid on to get to toen centres and schools. Okay, it's not the most beautiful locations but this housing would be new and safe and there is already gas/electricity laid on. Think about how much space is wasted just on abandoned industrial parks. And those post war prefabs lasted for decades. Then people could fundraise to help support these people, which is a much better solution than random people (who may or may not have good intentions) offering rooms.

But if they were going to do that why have they not done it already for the homeless of our country? I highly highly doubt they would for refugees because they don't actually WANT refugees that need to be paid for from the country's pocket.

Honestly, no.

I have a spare room but I don't want to have a complete stranger in my home for a minimum of 6 months.

I love having guests, love friends coming to stay etc but that is a temporary few days to a week arrangement. Not 24/7 for 6 months or more.

If I wasn't a mum I might feel differently. But I don't feel it qould be fair on dd to have to share her space with people she doesn't know.

My area has crappy transport links, the job market is poor so I can't see there would be much appeal any way.

The plight of the people is terrible and I have massive sympathy for them. However, I can't help feel that a lot of people saying yes they would accept them in would also berate a man or a woman for moving a new partner into their kids home when they had not long met. Why is this different?

If I had a spare bedroom/bathroom I would take someone in if they were female/ had a young child.

But we don’t have the space at all at the moment sadly.

We have a toddler and a baby on the way, but we also have a large home with two spare double bedrooms and a family bathroom that only gets used for my toddlers bath time - it could comfortably be shared.

I keep feeling so desperately sad and hope that if the situation were reversed that I at least wouldn’t be worrying about my child having somewhere warm and dry to sleep, with a kind family who took us in even though they didn’t know us from Adam.

My husband however is much more pragmatic and foresees the challenges and risks. It needs much more conversation here before we decide but it’s by no means a hard no.

We may not be first choice though - we live in a tiny village with no public transport and both work full time so couldn’t act as taxi service if they needed it.

However, I can't help feel that a lot of people saying yes they would accept them in would also berate a man or a woman for moving a new partner into their kids home when they had not long met. Why is this different?

The kids wouldn't be expected to "adopt", for want of a better word, the refugee in the same way. It's a much less intimate relationship and everyone knows from the start that it's a temporary arrangement, borne of a need for asylum rather than an intimate relationship with Mum or Dad.

We would seriously consider it. It's just DH and me now and we have a spare room with an en-suite. The room also has a day bed and a trolley bed underneath so we could take a woman and a couple of children.

Without the current fuel crisis I would have said yes straight away, but I'm concerned about the cost to us as I've already turned the heating down to 17.5 and I couldn't spent a lot on petrol to ferry them about.

If it was just dh and I then definitely. We both run our own companies too but not in the position to take on staff, otherwise I would consider the employment sponsorship option too.
However we have 4 children in a 3 bed house and are classed as “overcrowded” anyway so it’s not possible.

Yes. We have 2 spare rooms, smaller living room and a bathroom they can use. All my kids are adults now.

In the 1930’s my grandparents had to leave Germany in a hurry-with 3 kids in tow. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of strangers they wouldn’t have had anywhere to go and I probably wouldn’t be here.

Yes. My rental flat currently has no tenants (my choice as wanted to do some renovations). I'd consider offering that before taking on new tenants.