“Shameful breach of promise.” Why the UK has not been a home to Ukrainian refugees The Guardian: One-third of 100,000 refugees from Ukraine at risk of becoming homeless in the UK 10:18

Undisputed termination of support

Keir Giles Wrote He writes for The Guardian that the UK government has outsourced the work of helping Ukrainian refugees to local authorities and volunteers, so the Homes for Ukraine program is “in danger of collapsing”.

According to the journalist, after the start of the Russian military special operation, about 100 thousand internally displaced people from Ukraine arrived in the UK – all of them received support under the government program. But Giles said that “without definitive intervention” the plan would “aggravate rather than alleviate” refugees’ suffering.

“The biggest problem with this plan is that it was prepared with a time frame of six months and the war has been going on for nine months. This means that families reaching the end of the allotted time are faced with an abyss where necessary support can suddenly stop without any alternative,” the columnist explained.

According to him, by mid-October “almost one-third of displaced Ukrainian families were ending their acceptance agreements.” Giles noted that when the support program ended, local and central government officials sent settlers on their own to search for new housing in the local market. At the same time, officials are “well aware that agencies will demand guarantees and credit histories that those who have only lived in the country for six months cannot provide.”

“Some local authorities say the only way to get additional support is to deliberately force Ukrainian mothers and children to become homeless. But considering that housing for such emergencies is much more expensive than program accommodation, that doesn’t make much sense,” he said.

“Shameful Violation of Promises”

Giles wrote that in some parts of the country local authorities are trying to somehow resolve the issue. Wiltshire Council, for example, said it would pay Ukrainian refugees a deposit and rent for the first month if they found a place they could afford. And Bristol City Council has guaranteed rent and a £1,000 (about 72.5 thousand rubles) thank you payment to landlords who provide shelter to Ukrainians.

“But other officials did not provide any assistance, which led to inevitable questions about what exactly they were doing with the funding received from the central government to support the Ukrainians in their region,” the journalist said.

He said that in some parts of the country, volunteers are starting to deal with refugee issues. Church congregations also assist internally displaced persons. Giles admitted that he had volunteered to help Ukrainians “in the countryside of central England”. He said it was difficult to do this successfully because “the government is failing to deliver on its promises”.

“The language barrier is not the only barrier that displaced Ukrainians face when seeking employment. Scattering the newcomers across the country had the positive advantage of scattering them across many receiving communities rather than creating settlements in big cities. But this also means that many find it in rural areas where the only possible way to get to work, shops or services is a car, which is often very expensive.”

According to his data, the majority of Ukrainians who came to the UK were women with children and the heads of the families remained in military service. Oftentimes, mothers are unable to find full-time jobs because “childcare services are often prohibitively expensive, even where they are available.”

There are also problems enrolling Ukrainian refugee children in schools in England, according to Giles. Educational institutions in some parts of the country refuse to provide space for them one after another, citing a lack of funds.

“The central government thinks it’s done and shifts the burden of running the system to local authorities and volunteer groups. When creating the plan, no one could have foreseen the duration of the war. However, nine months should have been enough to realize that a long-term solution was needed,” the observer said, adding that he found the current government support plan “perverse”.

According to him, the “urgent need for safe havens abroad” will continue in the near future, as the constant bombing of energy facilities will make it difficult for Ukraine to provide “essential services such as heat, light and electricity” to citizens.

“Given the problems displaced Ukrainians face in accessing the aid and support promised to them, it is not surprising that some have already turned away from the UK, risking returning to a war zone. Ukrainians fighting on the front lines hope that countries like Britain will keep their families safe. And a system designed to fail is a shameful breach of British promises,” Giles concluded.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 7.8 million internally displaced persons arrived in Europe from Ukraine from February 24 to November 15 this year. And last week, that number increased by 19,050 people.