To think holiday homes could be used to house lots of refugees

[Letshaveablackcelebration]

Uk has a LOT of holiday homes and empty second homes. Surely they could be used to take a lot of Refugees aswell as spare rooms? It could support local economies all year round too rather than just in peak tourism seasons? The crisis is going to escalate rapidly in Ukraine- there are 44 million people in the country and so far it’s about 2 million who have fled and now countries like Moldova and the Poland are starting to struggle so we need to step up.

Aibu? It seems like an obvious solution. Obviously using the empty homes of oligarchs too is a preference.

I read an article about a woman who gave her French holiday home to a refugee family.

@douper

In that case most landlords would sell up, creating a serious housing shortage. Only the very worse landlords with the worse housing stock would remain.

There would also be a huge shortage of labour in many parts of the market. Teaching, NHS etc in cities would collapse , as they couldn’t get staff.

Key workers are already priced out. Rather than relying on generous landlords we need a lot more social housing.

That’s not true in most parts of the country . Where do you think most young key workers live right now?

And of course we need more social housing. But as people like you go on voting in a Tory governments we are never going to get it.

Destroying the sector that houses 20% of Uk families isn’t the clever solution that some people think .

It’s pretty sad that so many people hate tenants and want them out of their street / area . Although their are-always the first to complain when there’s staff shortages that affect them .

The Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey & Sark) were occupied.

350 would barely cover a weekend in holiday homes.

[quote Bunnyfuller]@mumwon

Did you read the previous post? The legislation can be changed, the insurance can be changed, everything is possible - how are the other countries managing?

Polish and Russian have similarities but are NOT the same. Ditto Moldovan. German and Ukrainian/Russian are completely different. Why is it only UK who uses language difficulties as a reason to not help?!

Why can Poland, Moldova etc help with the mental issues? Health needs?

Those who rent offset their maintenance costs against their tax bills so that doesn’t wash either. You have no idea what rules will be applied around Right to Work etc (we are desperate for workers in this country - you know - the ones who go to a job rather than make their money out of making profits from providing basic shelter for fellow humans, those kind of workers).

Of course you would rather give money - keeps all that nasty mess away and the accountant can write it off the tax bill.[/quote]
But you don’t KNOW how the refugees are going to be treated. It may just be a question of putting people into homes and getting food etc but nothing much done beyond that. With the refugees just slotting into people’s lives. If a country’s poor then refugees living in less than ideal conditions is the best of a bad lot. But in the U.K. they’ll be expected to have a higher basic standard of living that not everyone here has.

We can't even sort out the mental health of the people here

My grandad was sent from Mcr to Morecambe. He was looked after well. Far better than by his feckless parents. He was fed and loved for the first time in his life.

Just horrible to his dm

I manage a large Airbnb property (although I don’t own it). £350 wouldn’t cover even one night. And a huge problem which you are overlooking is people like me, who oversee changeovers, check guests in and deal with any queries etc, would be out of a job. Which would be pretty crap considering I am a single parent family. The cleaners would also be out of a job, also single parents. And I don’t know how the owner would pay the mortgage.

It’s idealistic of the govt to think we can put people up in our spare rooms. My sons school is crowded, no space for anymore kids. I can’t get a GP appointment for at least three weeks and have to wait at least 16 weeks for an mri scan. My spare room could hold a single person. How do they get a job? Won’t they be lonely? I’m at work all day? I can’t see that working at all.

@woodhill

We can't even sort out the mental health of the people here

Yep, and the "comfort and preferences" (as one PP put) could well be to do with mental health. I live alone in a 3 bed house. I can't have workmen here without a chaperone. No way could I house refugees.

Are you going to stand in front of that family after 6 months and tell them you are evicting them. After 6 months their children will have school places, the mother may have a job. They will have settled and begun to make a life. Once they are in your property the government won't do anything to make their housing situation more permanent in a different property. You will be left with a family whose rent doesn't cover your mortgage who have absolutely nowhere to go.
This is exactly why I am hesitating

How about using Russian mansions?

You all need to calm down. My DH doesn't have a nasty - - bone in-- hair on him. The comment was tongue in check in a light hearted convo with his mum about what the headlines tmrw will be discussing how the govt has been handling the situation, what Putin is likely to do this week and how the media will report it. The fact is that Putin is likely to escalate matters this week but the press will convey matters in a way to make it look somewhat under control tmrw but it's mostly to help the markets.
Ish!!! The vocabulary being used as missiles to my post is truly shocking.

There was a list in the Times today about how you could do this. However I don't think the government can afford to cover the lost income - people can get £750-£2500/ week and more during the upcoming Easter break and summer, and anyone I know who owns a holiday home relies on the income. Plus as PP mentioned the cleaners, letting agents etc who would lose their incomes.
And there aren't t 'millions', according to the Ministry of Housing in 2019, while 2.4m households in England reported they owned more than one home, the majority were long term rentals, with a reported 772,000 remaining. It did not break this down as to how many were rented out as opposed to not generating an income, but they may also be occupied part time (like a city flat used during the working week).
So it's not as straightforward as you may think, with 100,000s of empty properties sitting empty. And there has already been published ways to match your home or room with a refugee, and many have already signed up.

Really weird tongue in cheek comment. Why would it be funny to tell your elderly widowed mother that the government would be checking records and would force her to house refugees because she didn’t downsize? Like where’s the joke or the funny bit?

We’re looking to host in our own home but we couldn’t afford to give up the rental income on our second property - there’s still a mortgage etc to service.

Most houses are not lying empty not doing anything…

I don't see how it's in any way relevant to keep mentioning refugees from other continents. These are people from Europe, from a country that borders our NATO partners. From a region that many of us have visited or have colleagues and friends. From an area that has been stable and peaceful. It has no similarities to any other refugee crisis in my lifetime. So I feel differently about it - as do many others. Additionally they are mainly women and children. We have hotels around us housing ME refugees and they are 99 percent young men.

So are you suggesting the gov pay £350 and people just accept they may be losing £1000s of income every month?

Are you also going to suggest the gov heavily tax earners and take that tax to pay for refugees?

Or only those with holiday/second homes?

Absolutely the governments around the world need to house the refugees. But you can't force certain people to. It needs to be voluntary, done by providing enough incentives to people.

I wouldnt invite a refugee into my house for various reasons. 1) I have young children 2) I don't like sharing my space with friends and family for too long, let alone strangers 3) I couldn't rest easy knowing a stranger was in my space. There will be nice and not so nice Ukrainians, as with any nationality. Being a refugee doesn't make you a nice person and I wouldn't want to take the risk.

I'd rather give in other ways.

I expect @mrsmolks it’s because some of us don’t need people to be European to see their humanity.

I would rather the government just very highly tax second homes

Well said @stuntbubbles. Article in the Guardian yesterday about Abersoch, a seaside village in North Wales. The place is full of Airbnbs, about 46% in fact.

This village is in a traditionally Welsh speaking area and the culture and community has been destroyed by rich outsiders who stay there a few weeks a year. The place is empty in the winter. Locals are living in caravans because they can't afford the absurd house prices.

I would far rather the empty houses were filled with Ukranians who would live and work there.

@Letshaveablackcelebration

Uk has a LOT of holiday homes and empty second homes. Surely they could be used to take a lot of Refugees aswell as spare rooms? It could support local economies all year round too rather than just in peak tourism seasons? The crisis is going to escalate rapidly in Ukraine- there are 44 million people in the country and so far it’s about 2 million who have fled and now countries like Moldova and the Poland are starting to struggle so we need to step up.

Aibu? It seems like an obvious solution. Obviously using the empty homes of oligarchs too is a preference.

I read an article about a woman who gave her French holiday home to a refugee family.

I think you're quite right. They could be used.

@ukborn

There was a list in the Times today about how you could do this. However I don't think the government can afford to cover the lost income - people can get £750-£2500/ week and more during the upcoming Easter break and summer, and anyone I know who owns a holiday home relies on the income. Plus as PP mentioned the cleaners, letting agents etc who would lose their incomes. And there aren't t 'millions', according to the Ministry of Housing in 2019, while 2.4m households in England reported they owned more than one home, the majority were long term rentals, with a reported 772,000 remaining. It did not break this down as to how many were rented out as opposed to not generating an income, but they may also be occupied part time (like a city flat used during the working week). So it's not as straightforward as you may think, with 100,000s of empty properties sitting empty. And there has already been published ways to match your home or room with a refugee, and many have already signed up.

The 772,000 houses are ones not rented out, but personal second homes that are either empty or holiday homes. 2.4 million households owning more than 1 house is a lot of people.

@Delectable

You all need to calm down. My DH doesn't have a nasty - - bone in-- hair on him. The comment was tongue in check in a light hearted convo with his mum about what the headlines tmrw will be discussing how the govt has been handling the situation, what Putin is likely to do this week and how the media will report it. The fact is that Putin is likely to escalate matters this week but the press will convey matters in a way to make it look somewhat under control tmrw but it's mostly to help the markets. Ish!!! The vocabulary being used as missiles to my post is truly shocking.

My MIL lives in a 3bed. She's supposed to have downsized 3years ago soon after my FIL died, she hasn't. My DH just told her the govt will soon be looking at council tax accounts, registered voters etc at addresses with minimum two beds and if any are empty will require it to house refugees. The lovely 4 star hotel in her village already closed business to house Afghan refugees and villagers were complaining about the number of people walking about the village and how the govt needs to get them pre-occupied. Now she's wondering if it could actually happen that her house will be next!

You are backtracking because you have rightly been called out and are now trying to make light of the truly nasty thing your husband did to his own mother, your initial post was positively gleeful, I’m amazed you didn’t add a crying laughing emoji. Your poor MIL.

Really this is all pie in the sky talk from our government. The little rooms idea is Boris's notional equivalent of the little boats. From a party that spent years actively financially discouraging ordinary UK people from having spare rooms at all while selling off Mayfair to the guys funding the Ukraine bombing. It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic.