Industry News


Fears grow for a Ukrainian refugees homelessness crisis


G


overnment Ministers are being warned they need to act quickly to prevent a homelessness crisis among


Ukrainian refugees in the New Year, exacerbating an already difficult situation over the supply of rental properties. More than 130,000 people were resettled in


the UK, mostly by becoming guests of British families under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. However, many of the Ukranians have come to the end of their initial six-month stays and are having difficulty in extending their accommodation with their original host families, or in finding new places to stay. With the refugees being given visas to stay


for upto three years, the Government’s plan was for Ukrainians to either rent their own homes in the private rental sector or to “rematch” with other hosts. Despite a small growth in the total number of private rentals, the sector is already struggling to keep up with demand from the domestic population. Increases in mortgage rates are forcing many


potential first time buyers to put off their plans to purchase and are continuing with renting. And local authorities who are responsible for overseeing the scheme say they are struggling to find new hosts to take in the refugees. Te Local Government Association, the national


representative body for councils, said that they were “deeply concerned” about the growing number of Ukrainians presenting as homeless. “In particular, the significant rise in the number of those who


Council leaders and charities are calling on the Government to establish a national move-on programme so that the Ukrainian guests and their hosts are not left in limbo. There are also calls for payments to hosts to increase, to compensate them for rising costs caused by energy price increases


arrived through the Homes for Ukraine scheme,” Councillor James Jamieson, chairman of the association, said. Te District Councils Network, which represents


183 mostly rural local authorities, said that it had received many reports of hosts deciding not to rematch. And an ONS survey of nearly 18,000 hosts found that 25 per cent of sponsors said they only wanted to provide accommodation for six months or less. Council leaders and charities are calling on


the Government to establish a national move-on programme so that the Ukrainian guests and their hosts are not leſt in limbo. Tere are also calls for payments to hosts to increase, to compensate them for rising costs caused by energy price increases and the highest rate of inflation in over 40 years. By Christmas, about 14,000 Ukrainians are


expected to have come to the end of their stay and if they cannot find another host or private accommodation then they will be homeless. Latest figures show that over 2,000 Ukrainians have


presented to councils as homeless, many of them are households containing children. At the moment, 4,000 Ukrainians are looking for


sponsors, according to the Ukrainian Sponsorship Pathway, a charity set up to support the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Figures compiled by the District Councils


Network found that the highest ratio of refugees to local residents were in small, mainly rural areas, with South Cambridgeshire, South Oxfordshire, Chichester, Waverley and Wealden having the largest numbers on a proportional basis. A government spokesperson said: “We have


protected more than 136,600 Ukrainians since Putin’s invasion and the vast majority of these arrivals are settling in well. “ONS survey results show the majority of


sponsors want to stay on beyond the initial six months. All arrivals are able to work, claim benefits and we’re giving councils £10,500 per person to cover any additional costs, including emergency accommodation if needed.”


Number of people sleeping rough in capital returning to pre-Covid levels


More than 3,600 people were found sleeping on London’s streets between June and September according to an official count, representing a 24 per cent rise in the past year, as charities say ‘hard won’ progress is being lost. More than half were found sleeping rough for the


first time by outreach teams – 35 per cent more than the same time last year – as street homelessness in London heads back towards pre-pandemic levels. Tere are fears that over the Winter these figures will escalate, with thousands more people losing their homes. A total of 481 people are now deemed to be living


on the streets full-time – up from 264 at the start of the pandemic, when hotels were used as hostels, and an increase of 17 per cent on the previous three months. Many more people are believed to be intermittently rough sleeping.


Half of London’s rough sleepers are UK nationals,


while the largest foreign populations are from Romania and Poland. Te majority are aged between 36 and 55, half have mental health problems and a third need help with drugs and drinking. “Tese figures are frightening, and it is disastrous


to see the incredible progress made during the pandemic evaporating before our eyes,” said Matt Downie, the chief executive of Crisis, a homelessness charity that is also seeing rough sleeping and wider homelessness “rising fast” in other parts of the UK. “Tis is made worse by the cost of living crisis,


but these dire economic times are only adding fuel to a crisis that has been burning away for years. Te government must take decisive action in the autumn statement to invest in housing benefit. Tis


16 | HMMDecember/January 2023 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


will stem the flow of people on to our streets, and help people who are homeless to afford a place to live.” A combination of rising private rents, frozen


benefit levels, increasing rates of evictions and a reluctance to leave temporary shelters and move into permanent housing because of fears of unaffordable energy bills have all been cited as driving factors by homelessness campaigners. St Mungo’s, a homelessness charity operating in London, said it feared “worse is yet to come”. A spokesperson for the DLUHC, said: “Te


Government is providing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and end rough sleeping. Te latest official rough sleeping statistics show that rough sleeping has fallen to an 8-year low and has almost halved since 2017. “We are also supporting London boroughs


and the GLA with up to £172 million from the Rough Sleeping Initiative, which will provide thousands of beds and help individuals find work, manage their finances and access mental and physical health services.”


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