To think Ukrainian families may just have to..

[FindingMyself1999]

Go back? bbc article

such a sad situation but we barely have enough housing or school places as it is. Unless the hosts can act as guarantors? That’s a possibility ?

the government really hasn’t thought through the aftermath of the hosting scheme.

What was wrong with Holland ? They were in a safe country !

My family have been waiting for a council house for many years and as much as I support Ukrainian refugees it would feel like a massive kick in the teeth to be shunted down the housing list. It's going to be the better part of a decade anyway! I really feel like the government need to invest in more social housing and that will stop resentments forming when they house different groups, I wouldn't be angry with the resettled Ukrainian families, I would be angry with the government and council, but I can see how those resentments could form. Not everybody blames the system, some people blame the group who gets housed ahead of them, unfortunately.

Imo it depends where they were living in Holland. If they were living in a sports centre, sleeping on a camp bed, like so many in Poland were, fair enough, get somewhere better, share the load. If like someone I know, they were living in Europe (having left Ukraine after the war started) with a flat and a job, and came to the UK because, in their own words 'the government doesn't give you any money there' not ok.

In my experience, people actually go back to Ukraine for medical and dental treatment because services are so piss poor here.

There are quite a few Ukrainian refugee families here (small city) and it's beginning to cause bad feeling in some respects.

Just the other day, a host posted on the local FB page that the family she'd been hosting had just been offered a house by the council & did anyone have any furniture etc they could donate? Fair enough request. This was then followed by multiple posters asking if the family could give advice on how to jump the housing list....

Similarly, a Ukrainian lady living here posted asking if anyone local would host her friend who was living with a host elsewhere in the UK but liked our town better so wanted to move.... Comments were pretty much she can move here when she can afford to live here just like everyone else (we are on the top 10 places to live in the UK list) as her current location is fine & safe.

One thing that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me is why they actually get council housing. They're all here on temporary visas.

@Kendodd Is it too much to ask that you be careful with your language here? I completely understand your frustrations but comments like “a lot of them are taking the piss” as well as not being statistically accurate are just going to stoke anti-Ukrainian xenophobia as already seen on this thread. Which will affect the “good” Ukrainians that approve of.

Sadly there are people (on this thread) who don’t bother to learn about the criteria for the schemes and have no understanding of how the schemes work or what people have to do to get here, who just see comments like yours and go “omg they’re all taking the piss!”

Like you’ve clarified about the Holland example, some people would not have be able to find family/child friendly accommodation or jobs in other counties (the waiting list for social housing in Amsterdam is apparently 13 years) so the Homes scheme would have seemed a godsend. They wouldn’t know that the housing situation in the UK was equally awful, or the government support would be delayed, or nonexistent in some cases. How could they know that? Yet given out of context, it’s more fuel for those who don’t trouble themselves with any critical thinking and go “omg they’re taking the piss.”

And the example about the family not moving out because they’re sending money home - are their relatives from an unsafe area so have had to move across country/stay in hotels without a job? Would you abandon your family in the same situation? Speculation of course, but a potentially real situation that some on here won’t trouble themselves to think of.

What makes you think they get council housing? Are you living in the 1950's?

I've posted this option on another thread, but theres a housing emergency in the UK, with or without immigration. The private sector has completely and utterly failed to provide adequate and affordable housing, the government needs to step in with an emergency response and build prefabricated homes for people just like it did after WW2.

@Kendodd

Oh, I understand now.

You are just spouting made-up stories to stoke anti-foreigner sentiment.

@Kendodd Is it too much to ask that you be careful with your language here? I completely understand your frustrations but comments like “a lot of them are taking the piss” as well as not being statistically accurate are just going to stoke anti-Ukrainian xenophobia as already seen on this thread. Which will affect the “good” Ukrainians that approve of.

Agreed.

I’m calling out some of these posts are xenophobic and completely inappropriate.

Because of hosting, I've got to know a lot of Ukrainian people and some have gotten council housing in my council area. Not temporary hotel or something, but a council house.

@Kendodd Is it too much to ask that you be careful with your language here? I completely understand your frustrations but comments like “a lot of them are taking the piss” as well as not being statistically accurate are just going to stoke anti-Ukrainian xenophobia as already seen on this thread. Which will affect the “good” Ukrainians that approve of.

Yes taken on board.
It is very frustrating though seeing stuff first hand.

Well yes, you clearly know all Ukrainians.

It would be interesting to know where this mythical borough is, that has a stock of empty council houses.

Thanks @Kendodd
Equally frustrating for me is hearing all your stories, but also knowing the Ukrainian refugees I know, who are families living in one bedroom of a sponsor house,
or a relative’s house. I don’t know any in social housing now (but of course I could just not know them!) Families with parents working 12 hour days so they don’t have to rely on their hosts. Children who’ve had panic attacks needing medical intervention because their “safe” city was bombed on Monday and their grandparents are still there. Teenagers with PTSD from the start of the war.

So a casual “lots are taking the piss” is a kick in the teeth, and actually makes me worry for the safety of them, when we can see from this thread how easily people will pick up and run with a “Ukrainians all take the piss” narrative.

See? Like this shit. 🤡

I'm on a few local FB groups as I am thinking of moving to the general area and a lot of these posts seem to have proliferated very similar wording to what you mention. One does wonder if these are far-right planted or Putin bots stirring up resentment to Ukrainians. The comments are sort of 50/50 between having some heart thorough to taking the piss.

@LikeTearsInRain Rather than falling for a random’s account on Mumsnet and propagating anti-Ukrainian nonsense, actually go and meet some Ukrainians, hear their stories and make you own mind up?

A previous poster tells us that Ukrainians who haven’t even lived in Ukraine for 10 years have been able to come over. Yet the government criteria is that you must have been living in Ukraine immediately prior to the outbreak of the war. Did you bother to check, or did you just leap on to the post that confirms your beliefs?

People taking the piss isn't a matter of nationality, it's a relatively common human trait. My Lithuanian mate has a friend who claims child benefit yet works cash in hand as a cleaner (which I know is true as she quickly shushed me when I asked in company whether she was still cleaning, without realising she was claiming too).

My friend takes a pretty dim view of it herself though, as she's lived here almost 20 years, works full time, and is annoyed her friend has more disposable income than her.

I’m interested to know how the ‘government’ ( presumably the Home Office or Foreign Office) can carry out robust checks in this sort of situation. Presumably there are not cooperative English speaking counterpart officials sitting in offices with international communication equipment waiting to validate residency. I expect it comes down to self certification, which is not exactly watertight.

Please correct me if I am mistaken. It just seems slightly amusing that people who normally do not have a good word to say for ‘Government’ policy , efficiency or even probity, are perfectly prepared to place absolute trust in them when it suits their argument.

@Galaktoboureko Wouldn’t she get child benefit though regardless of whether she’s working or not working (or working cash in hand)? It’s a non-means tested benefit. I’m not sure I understand the point you’re trying to make here. EU nationals with settled status have recourse to public funds. UK nationals also had recourse to public funds in EU countries, before Brexit of course. This isn’t new or shocking information.