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.

Can anyone provide any links where I could 'find a Ukrainian '?
Sent a lot of PMS to people on Facebook, but nothing back. I don't want to advertise myself on Facebook because I'd rather Facebook friends didn't see it.

has anyone renting asked their landlord if they would be ok with it? I'm still pondering whether or not to go for it and ask, as I suspect the answer would be no. (I wouldn't take someone in without permission).

The landlord's insurance cover may not cover it and his or her mortgage might prohibit it unfortunately and it possibly (I amy be wrong) might make the place a home of multiple occupation - HMO as not as straight forward as one owning family with one lodger. As soon as I think you get more than two separate families it is an HMO so perhaps there is no problem with the HMO issue but it would need to be checked. In my daughter's block at the top they have moved in a 3rd flat mate presumably illegally - should just be let to two single girls, not a third as 3rd who is not in a relationship with the 2 tenants makes it an HMO. Also if it is a flat the long 100 year lease probably also has restrictions in it about what can be done in the flat too so would need to be checked

@Kendodd

Can anyone provide any links where I could 'find a Ukrainian '? Sent a lot of PMS to people on Facebook, but nothing back. I don't want to advertise myself on Facebook because I'd rather Facebook friends didn't see it.

resetuk.org/about/ukraine

I've registered with this lot, though not heard anything back yet. There are local groups in some areas if you have a search around social media, but not everywhere

@cloverlover

has anyone renting asked their landlord if they would be ok with it? I'm still pondering whether or not to go for it and ask, as I suspect the answer would be no. (I wouldn't take someone in without permission).

We’re landlords and have no issues if anyone asks us about hosting refugees. We don’t have mortgages on any of the properties so not sure whether that would make a difference. We’re classing it that the refugees will be invited guests to your home and not tenants as they won’t be paying any rent

@Xenia

The landlord's insurance cover may not cover it and his or her mortgage might prohibit it unfortunately and it possibly (I amy be wrong) might make the place a home of multiple occupation - HMO as not as straight forward as one owning family with one lodger. As soon as I think you get more than two separate families it is an HMO so perhaps there is no problem with the HMO issue but it would need to be checked. In my daughter's block at the top they have moved in a 3rd flat mate presumably illegally - should just be let to two single girls, not a third as 3rd who is not in a relationship with the 2 tenants makes it an HMO. Also if it is a flat the long 100 year lease probably also has restrictions in it about what can be done in the flat too so would need to be checked

I don't think any of those would be a problem - the government has confirmed that all the major insurance providers have said it's fine and you don't need to contact them. You might want to check with a mortgage provider but they're generally fine about lodgers so shouldn't be a problem.

A HMO (House in multiple occupation) is a house where there are at least two households paying rent so you won't be turning a house into a HMO by taking a refugee in most cases because the government payment is technically a "thank-you" not rent. See www.landlordsguild.com/homes-for-ukraine-landlords-guidance/

The only exception I can think of would be if you already had a paying lodger but were avoiding being classed as a HMO because there were only 2 of you in the house - moving any third person in would make it a HMO in those circumstances. Also, if a house was already a HMO but with fewer than 6 people, taking extras might push you up to a size of HMO with more regulations. But for most people taking a refugee family into a single family home under the government scheme there shouldn't be a problem with it making it a HMO.

I work for a social landlord btw, and am aware that we're allowing tenants to take refugees as long as they have space and it doesn't make them overcrowded.

Government guidance on HMOs and the Ukrainian scheme here: www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=684a1c3a-5fdf-4e53-b9a2-75bcaa99d197&utm_content=immediately#overview-and-purpose

It says "Please note that, as no rent is payable for accommodation under the scheme, we therefore do not expect councils to require such accommodation to obtain an HMO license (per the HMO definition in the Housing Act 2004, S.254 (2)(e)." So looks unlikely to me that councils would decide to start cracking down on tenants taking guests in under the scheme, though the legal situation for those that rent their home themselves is not as clear cut as it is for owners.

@Kendodd

Can anyone provide any links where I could 'find a Ukrainian '? Sent a lot of PMS to people on Facebook, but nothing back. I don't want to advertise myself on Facebook because I'd rather Facebook friends didn't see it.

ukrainetakeshelter.com

I registered here, on the government website and Reset.org. I've had 4 direct approaches from people who saw my advert on the above website. I've put my WhatsApp and email details on there - had 50/50 split of approach method. Make sure you go back and mark your property/advert as filled once you find someone.

sorry @Kendodd that should have been ukrainetakeshelter.com

Worth knowing that not all HMOs are licensable HMOs - depending on your council you don't need a licence until you're up to been 3 and 5 unrelated tenants (a cohabiting couple counts as one person)

@Kendodd

Can anyone provide any links where I could 'find a Ukrainian '? Sent a lot of PMS to people on Facebook, but nothing back. I don't want to advertise myself on Facebook because I'd rather Facebook friends didn't see it.

I've registered my interest on the official Government website. You put in the postcode area of the property. Theres nothing to stop you finding someone outwith that of course but it might be worth registering as well. So far I've heard nothing back.

I'm in Scotland - all HMOs have to be licensed down to the correct fireproof letterbox here as well as all holiday lets and I can see the Scottish government and local authorities making landlords jump through hoops in order to take in a refugee, on safety grounds...

Registering your interest on the government website does nothing other than that it put you on a list to get emailed when they opened the scheme last Friday. I believe it was also meant to give the government some idea of numbers. It’s not a way to find a match.

Has anyone actually had a visa approved yet? On Friday, I filled in two applications for women I intend to host and today on the radio I heard a woman say one of her sponsorees has already been issued the visa! This sounds ambitious to me - you could only submit applications starting Friday - but the news seems to suggest that “thousands” could arrive this week. In my experience with the Home Office I would have said we have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting a response this week, but happy to be proven wrong!

Also - has anyone any clue how to apply to bring pets in? The govt has said Ukrainians can bring their pets and they will try to streamline quarantine etc but I can’t actually find anything like a form or regulations to get to grips with.

Thank you

Good to hear someone has got a visa even if it’s just someone on the radio…I’m in 2 Facebook groups (a local and a national one) and nobody there has yet.

Registering your interest on the government website does nothing other than that it put you on a list to get emailed when they opened the scheme last Friday. I believe it was also meant to give the government some idea of numbers. It’s not a way to find a match.

In Scotland it will indeed be one way to find a match under the super sponsor scheme.

@Shiloh139 May I ask if you are in a big town or city? I've registered on those 2 websites and with the government scheme and haven't had any approaches at all.

We are in a rural area (although not too far from some big cities) and I'm wondering if that is why.

I do not want to do the Facebook matching thing as I'm not prepared to put my details in the public domain; also I'm not sure it reaches the neediest people.

[quote Tulipomania]@Shiloh139 May I ask if you are in a big town or city? I've registered on those 2 websites and with the government scheme and haven't had any approaches at all.

We are in a rural area (although not too far from some big cities) and I'm wondering if that is why.

I do not want to do the Facebook matching thing as I'm not prepared to put my details in the public domain; also I'm not sure it reaches the neediest people.[/quote]
@Tulipomania I'm in a big city. I also included in my advert quite a bit of information about me and my family, our house and the area where we live e.g. transport links and distance to city centre. A lot of adverts don't give much detail at all and I think if I were in their shoes, I'd want more information before trying to make contact.

We originally offered the room to the first person who contacted me (mum and 9 yr old son) and she agreed to take it but after a lot of agonising, ultimately told me this week she is going to go to France instead (her son was Ukrainian but she had a Belarusian passport, had lived in Ukraine for last 15 yrs with permanent right to remain but it meant she'd still have to go to a visa centre even on the current scheme) as it was simpler for her than the UK system. I've put my advert back up & been contacted by a few women since who seem to be less in need - all childless, coincidentally (?) holidaying/traveling outside of Ukraine when the war started and now looking to come here to work on improving their English and start a new adventure. Something seems off when I've read their messages to me and so I've said no to those people. Ideally I'd like to try and host someone with a child in a similar-ish range to one of mine, as I think that will improve the likelihood of the placement succeeding.

If you haven't already, update your advert/post to give info about your house, who they'll be living with and your local area. Perhaps in the title say how many miles you are to nearest town.

I live in a city that ticks all the obvious boxes (good public transport, existing Ukrainian community, etc) but we've also had nothing back from the Reset matching service yet. I think if you're relying on the agencies that do the matching for you, you probably need a bit of patience while they work their way through people. That said, I think we'll give them to the weekend and then look into more proactive options - the local Ukrainian FB page is quite active with both offers of accommodation and calls for help - both direct from refugees and from their friends or wider family who live here on their behalf.

Thanks Shiloh & Fireflies.

I'll review my ads to make sure they give all the useful information.

I guess we also need to be patient - this situation is going on for a long time. I think it's important not to rush into anything to be sure the match works well for both sides.

I thought I would give an update. We have agreed to sponsor a lady who is currently a seasonal worker on a local farm (I live in a rural area), on a temporary visa (was about to run out This month). Her husband is not allowed to leave Ukraine and her daughter (7) is in a Polish refugee camp looked after by friends. The lady has now gone back to Poland to see her daughter and try and get the daughters passport and Visa sorted.

We had hoped we would be able to sponsor them both but it seems that this lady and her daughter fall in a bit of a crack/through the net, as she is still on her seasonal worker Visa which prevents children being bought over but also precludes her from applying for the sponsorship scheme!

We have also found out that seasonal worker visas have been extended to December 2022 which in this case isn't actually helpful. We are trying to work out how to help and in the meantime our Ukrainian potential guest is trying to sort out what she can from Poland. We may fill in the forms for the "home scheme" ASAP so that we are "in the system".

We have written to our local MP (an advisor from a Refugee charity advised that MPs can speak to the Home Office about specific cases at a higher level), and fortunately our MP replied immediately and is looking into it.

We are hoping that this lady will be allowed her to apply for the sponsorship scheme and come to us with her daughter. The person I spoke to at the refugee charity suggested that cases like this are going to be subject to new guidance which will be coming out soon, but they couldn't say when, which isn't particularly helpful. The point being that this is still an evolving scheme so I am hopeful that some sort of allowance will be made.

Poor woman, what a horrible (and ridiculous) situation to be in. I hope they sort out the cracks in the system asap.

The family we are hosting have had their biometrics appointment at the visa centre and have been told they should hear in about 3 days.

For any potential hosts, there are loads of FB groups with loads of info and a few websites that have sprung up to match people.
I would advise caution as it is a Wild West situation right now and as ever you don't know who anyone is online.
Good luck out there.

We have registered and are waiting to see what matching process comes out of the Scottish Super Sponsor process. However, the profile of a Ukrainian woman looking to come to the UK and offering to work as an au pair has been shared in our neighbourhood group. We don’t really need an au pair but it got us thinking we could use the government £350 (plus a top up from us and food covered by us) to pay her for very light au pair duties, maybe an hour a day. If she found a full time job here she would still be welcome in our home and we’d still cover her food, there’s no obligation to continue as an au pair. Does anyone have any views on this? We had envisioned maybe a Mum and baby in our home so this is quite different but we’d like to help her if we can. Just wondering if anyone has any considerations that might not have occurred to me.