After a year of conflict, the collective effort to welcome Ukrainians forced to leave their country is weakening. According to the government, more than 3,000 families today find themselves homeless across the Channel.
After an emotional goodbye, Dana Karabinenko and her two children left the Bury Saint Edmunds region (UK) and their British host family. This Ukrainian refugee left on Sunday, January 29, to reach London and an uncertain future. “Dana was trying to fit all her stuff in one car”, smiles Michelle, who hosted these displaced people from the war in Ukraine for seven months. “Everyone cried. It was very hard to leave the children without knowing where they were going.”
>> REPORT. War in Ukraine: in London, for lack of accommodation, refugees “have nowhere to go”
Monday morning, after a first night in the living room of a Ukrainian refugee friend in London, Dana arrived with a large black suitcase at a “council” in the capital – a local administration in the United Kingdom – in order to declare herself without- shelter. Her children, aged 9 and 12, carried their belongings on their backs. “I felt terribly bad”, let go of Michelle.
“I know I did everything I could, but I was hoping for something different for them. They need stability.”
Michelle, a Briton who took in Dana, a Ukrainian refugeeat franceinfo
Michelle fears that Dana and her children will join the approximately 3,000 Ukrainian homes without homes in the UK, according to the UK government. Almost a year after the start of the Russian invasion which pushed 158,800 Ukrainians into exile in the United Kingdom, according to UN figures*, these thousands of displaced people find themselves without a fixed home across the Channel, after being hosted by British families or Ukrainian relatives.
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“No one has rooms in London”
“It is a significant risk, and it is a risk that is growing”warns Adis Sehic, researcher at the NGO Works Rights Center and co-author of reports on the reception of Ukrainians in the United Kingdom. “Some families hosting these Ukrainians were counting on the fact that they had been asked to house them for six months, not indefinitely. Families can no longer afford to house them any longer.” In a context of high inflation, the monthly aid of 350 pounds (392 euros) granted to the British to welcome these refugees is no longer enough.
Upon their arrival across the Channel, many Ukrainian exiles were accommodated thanks to a vast collective effort. By August, more than 250,000 households had volunteered to take refugees into their homes, a program called “Homes for Ukraine”. Michelle and her husband, who live in a large building in the countryside of Suffolk County, thus left their parental suite to Dana and her daughter while the son of the Ukrainian slept in another room. From the start, “we had agreed for six months”underlines Michelle, who nevertheless describes “a very positive experience”.
As February approached, Michelle tried hard to find accommodation in Bury Saint Edmunds for Dana and her children. But the Ukrainian refugee preferred to leave for the London area, where a friend and more professional opportunities awaited her. “I contacted all my friends in London looking for a new host family, or to find out if they had any rooms, apartments available. No one in London has that”, laments the Briton. On Tuesday, his Ukrainian guest had been granted seven days in a Wimbledon hotel room in south London. Emergency accommodation, extended a few days later by a week. “In my opinion, Dana was not ready for these challenges.”
“I don’t have that money”
In residential Hornsey, north London, the skyscrapers of the financial capital of the world appear in the distance, hidden behind a sprawl of ocher brick houses. It is here, at the home of Lisa Saper, that Olena Matiash and her two children finally put their suitcases down in June. The Ukrainian and her son sleep in Lisa’s daughter’s bedroom, with shelves full of books and toys. Olena’s eldest has her own room, the disorder of which brings a smile to the host and her guest from Kharkiv. The two women keep laughing together, despite the language barrier.
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Lisa Saper, whose grandfather was Ukrainian, did not hesitate for a second when the war broke out. After welcoming the first weeks, “a full-time job” for the British, the following months “have been pretty easy, until recently”, confides the former employee of the London Stock Exchange. Her daughter, whose photos adorn the walls of the stairwell, lives in New York and plans to return in May.
“I’m in this impossible situation where if I want my daughter to sleep in her own room, that means Olena and her children have to find accommodation. I have to choose between my daughter and my guests, and that makes me sick.”
Lisa Saper, a Briton hosting Olena, a Ukrainian refugeeat franceinfo
Since mid-January, the search for accommodation has been a second “a full-time job”Lisa breathes, exasperated. “I thought it wouldn’t be so difficult, but it’s impossible.” The Briton, who seeks “everywhere in North London”, said to have sent messages for more than a hundred apartments. She only sees properties renting between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds per month, an inconceivable amount for Olena, recipient of 1,000 pounds (1,121 euros) in allowances, and paid only ten pounds an hour for 6 p.m. weekly laundry. “She needs a guarantor, but I don’t have that money”, continues Lisa Saper. The many documents required, from proof of solvency to recommendations, are an additional obstacle in this search, not to mention the lack of social housing in the fourth most expensive city in the world, according to the organization ECA International*.
“We have the following options: find them accommodation, which is becoming less and less likely; return to Ukraine, which is not an option; or leave London, but they don’t know anyone anywhere else.”
Lisa Saper, a Briton hosting Olena, a Ukrainian refugeeat franceinfo
“I love Olena very much, but if I had known in May what I know now, I would never have suggested her family come to London”, continues the Briton. For hosts like Lisa, the most common difficulty is “uncertainty about what will happen to their guests after the accommodation ends”recognizes a British government investigation*.
“Help as much as possible”
In Sutton, south London, Halyna Boyarski prepares to drive Yanina to work after baking traditional Ukrainian scones and snacks. Her husband, Sergey, plays with little Sofia, Yanina’s daughter. The sixty-year-old couple, who have lived in the United Kingdom for almost twenty-five years, have welcomed 13 Ukrainians since the start of the conflict, including Yanina, her daughter and her husband Dima. Refugees arrived thanks to the “Homes for Ukraine” program and the “Ukraine Family Scheme”, a measure allowing the reception of family members forced into exile for a year. A niece will soon arrive in Sutton. “We decided to help, as much as possible”summarizes Sergey.
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The Boyarskis, after hosting Yanina’s family for six months, managed to find them new accommodation nearby, a three-bedroom house shared with another couple. The help of a real estate agent friend was vital. Five other Ukrainian friends, hosted in turn by the couple, finally backtracked, leaving Sutton to find western Ukraine.
“They wanted to go back, but they also knew it would be very difficult to find accommodation and pay for it.”
Halyna Boyarski, a Ukrainian residing in the UKat franceinfo
At the beginning of the week, Halyna is getting ready to visit her sister, who is now welcoming a cousin who was initially housed by the couple from Sutton. With the “Ukraine Family Scheme”, these Ukrainian residents in the United Kingdom are fighting to welcome as many relatives as possible, in however more difficult conditions. Contrary to at “Homes for Ukraine”, those who host their loved ones do not receive any financial assistance across the Channel.
A distinction that multiplies the risk of loss of accommodation, alert Works Right Center*. “These people wanted to quickly get their relatives out of Ukraine. They have no financial support, and there is more of a risk of overcrowded housing”, underlines Adis Sehic. This lack of support has indeed had an impact on Halyna and Sergey’s finances, against a backdrop of an explosion in the cost of living in the United Kingdom. “The bills have skyrocketed. We are not rich, we have to keep working to pay them. I dread my next water bill”, describes Halina. How much longer can they last? “As long as the war continues”she promises.
* Links marked with an asterisk refer to pages in English.