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?

@31flavours you've read threads on here (including this one) and you think the public mood is to let them in? That's pretty selective reading. Weve already had - no space, no money, disease, why always us, and happier with their own kind. If you think that Ukrainians being white sill make a difference to the public mood to refugees wait til a few thousand arrive and start impacting stuff. The shrieks of "what about me" will be ringing out loud and clear. B

There are calls to open our borders to Ukrainians just as their were for Afgan refugees last summer and Syrians before that. Go check the media and back threads on here. Whats new is the prerequisite of opening our homes as a catalyst for action.

And sorry, to be clear, I dont mean "no space" or "no money" on an individual level, of course many people dont have the resources to host. I meant space and money being used on a country level ie Britain has no space, the UK cant afford it.

Would also find it difficult to take part in this scheme when this wasn't on the table for Afghan refugees running for their lives 6 months ago

While I also wish this scheme had been introduced for Afghan refugees, I’m pretty confident that the fact it wasn’t was not the fault of Ukrainian refugees, so I’m not sure what refusing to help Ukrainians achieves.

If it was for a few weeks, I would. We have a sofa bed in our lounge so could use that but we don’t have a spare room. 6 months is too long to have someone sleeping in the lounge.

I feel bad about that though.

We are going to offer to host as we have a spare room. I have dbs clearance- I don’t know whether that means we could host a young person? Does anyone know how this will work?

@Porcupineintherough

And sorry, to be clear, I dont mean "no space" or "no money" on an individual level, of course many people dont have the resources to host. I meant space and money being used on a country level ie Britain has no space, the UK cant afford it.

Where do you think they should go? They are already travelling to other European countries and Poland has over 1m refugees, why not the U.K., one of the richest countries in the world.

I have just heard on the news that a web form will be open tomorrow for people to express interest in hosting refugees,host families/households can claim £350 a month and the refugees will also be eligible for all benefits? As I have said previously I do live rurally but if I can help I will, so I will express interest but don't expect to be taken up on my offer. I live in Scotland so maybe things will be a bit different here as I think Scotland and Wales are hoping to be "super hosting nations"

No. We have a spare room but very small house. My son with ASD has only just come out of hospital after attempting to take we his own life. There are no mental health services available to him, even after such a traumatic event.

Am also frantic about our lack of money coming in and rising cost of “living” aka “just about getting by”.

In theory yes. Practically… no.

@HappeeInParis

We are going to offer to host as we have a spare room. I have dbs clearance- I don’t know whether that means we could host a young person? Does anyone know how this will work?

Do you mean young person as in 18-24? As far as I'm aware the scheme wont cover unaccompanied minors (unless they are going to family I guess).

Yes.

Our current refugee is moving on to his own place Monday so we might well do. We have a room downstairs.

Let's hope we are never put through the horrific scenes that Ukraine have. I doubt Europeans would be so welcoming to us after the Brexit fiasco!

@Porcupineintherough Thanks for replying- I was thinking of a teenager as we would be well set up to have one stay. Do you know what the arrangements are for unaccompanied minors?

@Parker231 I dont disagree. You need to read that post in conjunction with the one directly above it.

No, I don't have space in my house for us let alone anyone else. I also feel they are playing on peoples sympathy of the situation to absolve their own responsibility and there will be less pressure for councils to find them more permanent homes which is obviously more ideal for the refugees themselves. Thousands of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan have arrived in my city alone over the last few years and no one has been openly asked to host them like this. What's different for the relatively tiny number of Ukrainian refugees?

No

Also, what happens after six months. What’s the plan then?

The UK government should provide the accommodation and support in a structured manner.

We will be if there is still a need after we've completed renovations, but there will be periods of time over the next 2 months when we have no kitchen/bathroom/spare room.

I will be offering support in any other way I can though. Was thinking that if and when there are a number of refugees in the area they will need/want to congregate as a community (rather than always be with their host family and potentially feeling very isolated and scared), so would be happy to coordinate these.

@Porcupineintherough

And sorry, to be clear, I dont mean "no space" or "no money" on an individual level, of course many people dont have the resources to host. I meant space and money being used on a country level ie Britain has no space, the UK cant afford it.

Refugees aren’t the same as immigrants, you know. There’s a moral and ethical commitment to them. And anyway, as I posted elsewhere, in my local authority, there are 20-25% unused school places, and over 400 empty council properties. Lots of space.

Also £350 a month is a bit of a joke. Another way of saving money for the local councils and government and temporary accommodation is well over that a week (which again pushes councils to rehouse as soon as they can. No incentive when it's not costing them a penny as central gov are paying kind people pennies instead)

No being funny but seriously, what about Her Majesty? All those properties? All that money?

I think 350 is quite a lot… And I live in London and am used to high prices. Obviously, if people are concerned that “the UK can’t afford it”, it is all to the good that the government and councils find the cheapest way of doing it. That is what you want, right?

@daisypond sorry, please read that post in conjunction with the one above. I was listing the reasons people give for not wanting refugees in the UK and that post is a clarification of what I originally said.

£350 per month is a pretty good deal really. It's about what you'd get for renting out your spare room to a lodger in most parts of the country, and there's no way they'll put up your bills by that much each month.

I wouldn't take children (the dog wouldn't cope) but I could take a single person for that sort of money once I've moved and got a spare room.

I've had lodgers in the past and have never had any real problems.

These people only want temporary asylum. Once Putin sods off back to Russia, I'm sure they will want to go home and rebuild.

@Libertybear80

Our current refugee is moving on to his own place Monday so we might well do. We have a room downstairs.

Let's hope we are never put through the horrific scenes that Ukraine have. I doubt Europeans would be so welcoming to us after the Brexit fiasco!

I was thinking along the lines of your last sentence too.