Housing Ukrainians
Britain pays for private refugee aid
03/13/2022 1:14 p.m
In the first few days after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the British government was criticized for not providing adequate support for refugees. Now Johnson and his cabinet are following suit and are offering the British financial support for taking in Ukrainian refugees.
The British government wants to thank families who take in refugees from Ukraine with a monthly payment. As part of the “Homes for Ukraine” program, those Brits who offer Ukrainian refugees free accommodation for at least six months are to receive a sum of 350 British pounds (just under 420 euros) per month. The government announced this.
The support program is to be introduced in the coming days. It aims to enable citizens, charities, communities and businesses to bring refugees from Ukraine to safety – even those who have no ties to the UK. Building Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News that tens of thousands of Ukrainians are likely to come to the UK, the first of them in about a week.
According to the funding program, anyone who wants to take in refugees must commit to accommodating them for at least six months without charging them any money. Those offering accommodation are screened, while Ukrainian applicants are subjected to security checks. A corresponding website to bring providers and applicants together should go online on Monday.
With the program, the British government is obviously reacting to criticism that it is too slow to take care of the well-being of those people who fled to safety in Ukraine before the war. So far, the country has taken in just 300 refugees under an expanded visa program for family members of Ukrainians living in the UK, Home Office figures showed earlier this week. So far there have been a total of 17,700 applications from family members who want to come to Great Britain.
According to a BBC report, around 600 refugees are said to be stuck in Calais on the French Channel coast. According to French authorities, almost 300 applicants have been rejected because of missing papers – often with the request to submit the corresponding application in Paris or Brussels instead.