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.

@anotherday85 - I think that is very offensive. I believe British people are in general far more charitable - in every way - than their European neighbours.

It is problematic to commandeer holiday/second homes for many reasons, but I think that council tax should be raised massively on second properties and rules tightened to stop people claiming business rates on what is effectively their holiday home (eg pretending to offer it for rental but then blocking out most dates or cancelling bookings). This tax avoidance is actually evasion and emergency changes to the rules could raise a significant tax sum to help with the refugee problem.

Well if British people are so absolutely horrible and have no moral compass then I’m sure families won’t want to live with them.

I mean that’s just a stupid thing to say. If it’s an island of heathens and immoral nasty people why would you want to live here at all?

And when does the moral compass run out? You only have to look on any online forum to see that roommate situations can drive people to despair. So are you then disgusting and horrible if you don’t like your refugee family? If you want them gone after 6 months? If their way of living disrupts yours?

@anotherday85 gets the award for the most bigoted, hateful post of the day. The irony...

@anotherday85

Who are you to judge those people?

I judge them as a European immigrant with many years' experience of the insularity, hostility, reserve, unwelcome, exclusion, self-serving and myopic attitude of so many people here. Never more evident than now, with Europe opening its doors to desperate refugees, but here xenophobia and 'me first' always, always wins. I think a lot of British people lack a moral compass, frankly. Which explains their support and justifications for Brexit and Boris Johnson's Tories, regardless of the misery caused to others. Even in the face of war, people still look away, indifferent to anyone's plight but their own.

'No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'

Not everyone supports Boris

Not everyone voted Brexit.

Yes and anyone with spare rooms should be compelled to house a refugee,any single person living in a house should have to give it up for a family. Actually no, they shouldn't. The state has no business dictating what happens in anyone's private property. If people want to do it, good for them but it should be a choice.

@Poorlyplants 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.

No it wasn't "truly nasty" in any way. I'm not backtracking and there's nothing to be called out for!!!! Goodness!!! My Dh has a fab relationship with his mum. So much so that she forwent the opportunities of the only bungalow she was interested in when it miraculously came on the market and thereafter revealed she would wait for us to move and she would move in with us. She has two sons and a daughter yet she choose to live with my DH not her daughter. Contrary to what you might hope for, she's not "poor", she is very much loved. My DH rings her everyday and travels over a 100miles to visit her every other week for 3 days shopping, gardening etc. If you're truly concerned about my MIL then my thread from a year ago will be most informative for you www.mumsnet.com/Talk/elderly_parents/4271052-How-do-you-plan-to-take-care-of-your-DHs-mum-in-her-old-age?pg=3 but if you're simply enjoying spending your time sat anonymously behind a screen throwing missiles at people you do not know ... thrill yourself!

@PandoraRocks

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.

Serious question - what would they do?

The only jobs are in hospitality and tourism. With refugees in all the accommodation those industries will be shedding staff not employing more.

The only jobs are in hospitality and tourism because the second/holiday home owners have proved locals out of living there and they’re miserable ghost towns out of season. People moving in will create jobs by being there, and unlike so many brits will be happy to work and get on their feet.

I’ve read this thread and i am amazed by some of the comments.

20,000 people have apparently registered so far to take Ukrainians into their homes and 100,000 air BnB hosts have offered their properties.

Clearly not many of the Air Bnb hosts are on this thread!!

And as a Welsh speaker, I would also add that the Welsh government new rules for holiday homes don’t go far enough to protect our communities and our language from the absolute scourge of second home owners destroying our villages and our culture.

And the levels of entitlement by some on this thread are truly something to behold frankly. Nid yw Cymru ar werth.

I read the article about that lovely welsh town. I don’t think refugees are the answer. The primary school has closed - and I’m not sure the village would have the amenities required to cope with a large influx of traumatised families who will need medical care, counselling and interpreters. And jobs.

We need to think about what is best for these people - not how to put a stealth tax in second home owners.

@Cheeseplease1976 I looked into Airbnb but I couldn't work out if they would cover any costs ie fuel

@Cheeseplease1976

I’ve read this thread and i am amazed by some of the comments.

20,000 people have apparently registered so far to take Ukrainians into their homes and 100,000 air BnB hosts have offered their properties.

Clearly not many of the Air Bnb hosts are on this thread!!

That is wonderful. I do think the point we should take away is people are doing this of their own free Will - that is very different from forcing people into it.

@Mellowyellow222

I read the article about that lovely welsh town. I don’t think refugees are the answer. The primary school has closed - and I’m not sure the village would have the amenities required to cope with a large influx of traumatised families who will need medical care, counselling and interpreters. And jobs.

We need to think about what is best for these people - not how to put a stealth tax in second home owners.

This 100%

It's not coming from a place of care for the refugees, it's coming from a want to penalise second home owners.

@HELLITHURT it’s absolutely right that second home owners in wales are penalised. They are destroying the Welsh language and culture. As a Welsh speaker from north Wales, I see villages mostly empty and our culture eroded. Local people can’t afford homes. The Welsh government are moving in the right direction. Wales is not a giant holiday park. As I said above, nid yw Cymru ar werth/ wales is not for sale.

[quote Cheeseplease1976]@HELLITHURT it’s absolutely right that second home owners in wales are penalised. They are destroying the Welsh language and culture. As a Welsh speaker from north Wales, I see villages mostly empty and our culture eroded. Local people can’t afford homes. The Welsh government are moving in the right direction. Wales is not a giant holiday park. As I said above, nid yw Cymru ar werth/ wales is not for sale.[/quote]
Come to London, not a Cockney rhyming slang speaker or pearly king s d queen in sight anymore.

[quote Cheeseplease1976]@HELLITHURT it’s absolutely right that second home owners in wales are penalised. They are destroying the Welsh language and culture. As a Welsh speaker from north Wales, I see villages mostly empty and our culture eroded. Local people can’t afford homes. The Welsh government are moving in the right direction. Wales is not a giant holiday park. As I said above, nid yw Cymru ar werth/ wales is not for sale.[/quote]
It's not working at the moment whatever the Welsh government has done, maybe in the future but maybe not. Especially now with lots of people WFH.

@HELLITHURT welsh is not a regional dialect. Wales is a separate country with its own language and culture. It’s not the same thing.

@HELLITHURT i think we have every right to feel pissed off when we can’t live in the towns we were born in speaking the language of our country. I repeat, wales is not a giant holiday park. It’s our home.

@HELLITHURT and frankly, there is nothing worse than people who have visited wales on holiday telling us how we should feel about our own country and language.

[quote Cheeseplease1976]@HELLITHURT and frankly, there is nothing worse than people who have visited wales on holiday telling us how we should feel about our own country and language.[/quote]
You're better off that the people in Ukraine! Get a grip!

Nothing fucking worse, like being bombed out of your home and having to leave everything!

Of course it's the Ukrainians you're think off with your batshit crazy idea! It's not yourself?

So so bitter!