thread for those interested in refugee hosting/sponsorship

[EezyOozy]

I thought I would start a new thread about this as I have just heard on BBC news that they are opening up a web form tomorrow to express interest. Apparently families/households can claim £350 a month (I assume for increased expenses) and refugees will be eligible to claim or benefits and work. We have large a spare room but live rurally so whilst I will express interest I'm not sure we will be taken up on it.

I thought I would start a new thread for those who are interested and to follow the progress of the registration procedure/how this pans out in practice.

Posted here because it's the only place I know gets plenty traffic, I will probably be asking for this to be moved but don't know where to.

Just completed the government registration form. Very few details required

@Jaymar - I think there are quite a few Facebook pages. I had a search and there seems to be a couple of Ukrainian groups in my city. They have some people offering rooms and some people replying to them saying they'll DM them to put them on to contacts in some cases. But personally I'd rather wait a little for something a bit more organized.

With regards schooling, psychological help etc, I don't see why we couldn't help Ukraines to set up and provide these services themselves. In that I would imagine the people coming in would largely reflect the different skills in the country. So some would be teachers, some doctors, some nursery workers etc. If they could be helped to set up Ukrainian schools, in a similar way Nightingale schools were talked about, with Ukrainian teachers, teaching in Ukrainian this might be better for everyone. I know we don't know what the future holds but I don't see these refugees as needing permanent resettlement, so continuing with their own schooling (although very different) might be less disruptive and unsettling for the children. Also, it give the adults something productive to do. Likewise some medical or other services they would need. These are resourceful people, we can help them look after each other.

The Refugees council response seems a bit odd. They seem to be simultaneously arguing for fewer checks, and for more checks! I'm not sure it's very helpful to equate taking a a refugee lodger to being a foster carer either - adults don't need the same care as children, even if they are sterling into a new country. And what's their better suggestion? Competing with homeless UK households for the cheapest BnB accommodation with no support at all? Their isn't a worldwide supply of expertly trained people to "foster" refugees is there? But the people need housing.

Firefliess, I think the Refugee Council is arguing for fewer checks on refugees coming into the country - so they don't have to fill in 50-page forms and provide, e.g., mortgage statements(!) - but more checks on the whole system of people taking them into their homes. I personally think people offering accommodation should be DBS checked, especially if they are taking in children. We cannot assume that everyone is a good Samaritan, especially when there is money involved.

In terms of comparing people offering accommodation to foster carers, there may be unaccompanied children but there's also the fact that even the adults are likely to be traumatised and vulnerable. That requires specialist support, including for the lovely people who are offering them a home. I do voluntary work, which includes contact with people who are absolutely desperate. It often leaves me feeling drained and helpless. With the best will in the world, I am not experienced enough to support grieving women and children who are thousands of miles from their homeland and don't know if they will ever see it again.

I don't think the Refugee Council opposes the scheme in principle; I think it wants it to be set up properly, and that's why it is raising these important points. It does have 70 years' experience rehousing refugees, so I really hope its concerns are taken on board.

Kendodd, schooling, yes, maybe, but psychological and medical support? I don't think so. Medical support requires an entire infrastructure and psychological support requires professionals who are not themselves refugees.

Thing is, gold plated psychological support, they're just not going to get. We hear everyday how overwhelmed our mental health services are anyway. If Ukrainian psychologists, psychiatrists etc can run group and individual sessions, without language barriers and an absolute understanding of what people have been through, might be the best solution for everyone. Otherwise we're going to have these highly skilled people barred from helping.

psychological support requires professionals who are not themselves refugees
Why can't psychologists be refugees? I expect they'd be doing other work. Is it that you think it would be too traumatic for them?

Kendodd, yes I think it would be too traumatic for them. It’s like expecting a recent rape victim to give psychological support to rape victims.

I do agree that our services are inadequate to cope. That’s the grim price we’re paying for them having been starved of funding over the last decade - in precisely the same way as we weren’t sufficiently resourced to cope with the pandemic.

The kind of grassroots intervention you are describing @Kendodd is atypical in the West. However, I am aware of services in Africa that have minimal input from outsiders and the locals are supported to facilitate their own healing journeys...so I wonder if something in between could work with the right oversight.

I'm seriously considering this as I would like to help. I think the best way for me would be to take on a woman and child as lodgers in my city flat which I have for work. I'm just a little concerned that the £350 is taxable (so as a higher rate taxpayer I would get £210 minus the loss of my single occupancy discount, say then I would be left with £160.

I would also have to register as a landlord, get a gas safety certificate and an EPC which are quite a few upfront costs but I think it would be worth it.

Why don't the government make it tax free?

yes I think it would be too traumatic for them
I'm sure it would be for some, for others it might not be, it might even be helpful. I think it should be left to the individuals to decide if they wanted to do it or not.

SucculentChalice the £350 is tax free

• yes I think it would be too traumatic for them I'm sure it would be for some, for others it might not be, it might even be helpful. I think it should be left to the individuals to decide if they wanted to do it or not.*

Assuming that we have no way of knowing how many psychologist refugees there will be or what their geographical distribution will be like or whether they will have childcare responsibilities, it’s a big leap to assume it’s feasible. The only practical scheme is for Ukrainian professionals to join existing services here if they feel able to.

I spent 12 days in Lviv in Ukraine last summer. It is a busy city. Our stay there was very difficult because we spoke none of their language and found virtually no one who spoke English.

@SucculentChalice

I'm seriously considering this as I would like to help. I think the best way for me would be to take on a woman and child as lodgers in my city flat which I have for work. I'm just a little concerned that the £350 is taxable (so as a higher rate taxpayer I would get £210 minus the loss of my single occupancy discount, say then I would be left with £160.

I would also have to register as a landlord, get a gas safety certificate and an EPC which are quite a few upfront costs but I think it would be worth it.

Why don't the government make it tax free?

The £350 is tax free under the Rent A Room scheme www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

Haven't seen any confirmation either way of the single person discount issue.

They're legally lodgers rather than tenants. I'm not sure which part of the UK you're in but certainly in Wales (where landlord registration is compulsory), live in landlords don't have to register. EPCs aren't required for lodgers either, though as they're valid for 10 years, if you've bought in the last few years you've probably got one anyway (you can find them online find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/search-by-postcode?lang=en&property_type=domestic )

Slightly to my surprise you're meant to have a gas safety certificate for lodgers. However, I wonder how much enforcement of this there really is with lodgers (unlike normal tenants, who can't legally be evicted without a GSC), or if the government will even include it in the paperwork for this scheme. It's the sort of thing I can see them overlooking in their haste.

@Zerrin13

I spent 12 days in Lviv in Ukraine last summer. It is a busy city. Our stay there was very difficult because we spoke none of their language and found virtually no one who spoke English.

For future reference, the google translate app is very very useful. You can even speak into it, using voice recognition, and it will produce a translation almost instantly. Genius.

Pointing and miming can also get you a surprising distance.

I didn’t think the Rent a Room scheme, which is tax free up to a certain amount, applied to landlords. I don’t think info on that is relevant here. News sources says the £350 is for both landlords and those letting a room in their own house.

Meant to add, is tax free for both landlords and those letting a room.

[quote Firefliess]If people are worried about UC claims being affected, that's unlikely to be the case. There's already a rent a room tax free allowance of £7,500 a year for lodgers, and this applies to UC too. So nobody would pay any tax on the £350, nor lose any UC (unless you already have other paying lodgers and get more than £7,500 a year.) See www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme[/quote]
However, single people who accept refugees may lose their CT discount; house insurers may raise premiums and mortgage lenders may object.

@SucculentChalice yes you would lose the single person CT discount.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

I feel really awful that I don’t have any spare space, but I really don’t.“

Please don’t. The anti immigration Government are doing a really great job of guilt tripping people into feeling that they must “do their bit”.

Some people can help, some can’t. No guilt needed.

I joined a facebook page designed to match families with Ukrainians needing sponsors. It's a bit of a free for all tbh and a nightmare with regards to safeguarding. Every post attracts 20 - 30 offers of accommodation, photos of rooms, families with photos of their children, dogs etc no way of knowing who is genuine. We were happy to be matched with someone, provide references etc but it just seems a bit of a bun fight.

I've signed up, and we were planning to switch rooms around so the spare room is larger, and the smallest room becomes my office (WFH). We're getting on with that this week, rather than it being a slow process.

The lack of organisation is dire, and very embarrassing (Thanks for the cringe UK government). I would hope that if my offer of a room is taken up there would be a system where a few offers are taken up in the small town I live in. I'd like to think that my house guest would be able to meet up with other Ukrainians and not be cast into a foreign land by themselves.

I'm also concerned that the safety checks will not go ahead, and will get forgotten in the last minute nature of the UK government's decision making processes. Most people will be just fine, but predators are always on the hunt for potential victims. These people are already very vulnerable.

@SundayTeatime

I didn’t think the Rent a Room scheme, which is tax free up to a certain amount, applied to landlords. I don’t think info on that is relevant here. News sources says the £350 is for both landlords and those letting a room in their own house.

The rent a room scheme Is not applicable to everyone, if you run a business such as B & B or serviced accommodation, You cannot utilise the rent a room scheme in addition to to claiming the tax deductible costs of running a business . It is one or the other. It remains to be seen whether the help Ukraine scheme will be tax free as advertised.

Sorry, am only 5 pages in but so many questions on here are dealt with on this site:

www.refugeesathome.org/

Including stating who lives with you, what your facilities are, whether you're happy to house unvaccinated people etc. The government form doesn't mention finding anyone on social media. The charity linked above is already established and has been doing this longer than a month. They have resources to read online. Housing refugees has been a thing for longer than this crisis, there are people with expertise doing it. (As a poster above mentioned - it's her job.) If the government's approach concerns you but you want to do it, a charity might be a good route.