Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the Isère prefecture says it has issued 1,301 temporary residence permits to adults and estimates the number of children, not subject to authorization, at 700. If the rate of arrivals is t has slowed down, with now about fifteen per week, few Ukrainians have decided to return: about forty. The others – who are overwhelmingly women – still hope that the war will end as soon as possible and, in the meantime, are preparing to experience the return to school, sometimes in diametrically opposed ways. For the first to arrive, it is also time to contact the prefecture again to renew their residence permit. The new dossier must be submitted three weeks before the expiry date of the initial period of 6 months.
A generosity that sometimes does not dry up…
In the “smiles” section, despite the uprooting, there is Mila in Coublevie, near Voiron: not only is she still with her host family, but the latter has also bent over backwards to set up a small studio for her allows him to continue working remotely with his Ukrainian film dubbing company. Between her employer who continues the work at all costs and her host family, she feels “protected on both sides, in Ukraine and in France“. In Grenoble Irina and her 4-year-old daughter are still tenants… of an owner who even pays the electricity and water bills! “What incredible generosity…” underlines Ganna, from Free people Ukraine, an association which has helped many refugees to come to Isère. In Trièves, Lyubov, her children aged 18 and 8, as well as a friend with two children aged 8 and 13 are housed”as long as necessary” by hosts, again very generous. They also found some work in a canteen in the area.
But a generosity that sometimes has its limits
For others, on the other hand, you have to leave the accommodation. When summer arrived, the host families did not always want or were able to extend the welcome. “I understandexplains in a sob Kateryna, a 42-year-old Ukrainian refugee, but there I do not know where to lodge my children!“. She is the single mother of two boys aged 4 and 7 and she is also accompanied by her 70-year-old mum. She must leave”September 1“the accommodation she has occupied since her arrival in April.”What is unfortunateshe says, is that _I spent three summer months looking_I approached the Prefecture, all the associations that manage refugees, the CCAS and several town halls (in the metropolis of Grenoble) but I don’t have a solution so far“. The most frequent answer is that there is “a shortage of housing“.
I thought finding a job and proof of income would be the key but no… it’s not enough and I still don’t have a solution – Kateryna, Ukrainian refugee
Because she knows that work and the possibility of justifying a source of income increase the chances of finding accommodation, this former employee in international trade in Ukraine, who speaks French and English, has found a part-time position for an Estonian information technology (IT) company. “I will telecommute.“Except that for that you need a place to land. You also need an address to register the children in school. For the moment only his oldest, mildly autistic, has a place at the Kerber school in the neighborhood Bajatière in Grenoble. Ideally, it is in this sector that he needs accommodation, but “in Grenoble, in Saint-Martin-d’Hères, in Echirolles, we don’t need much, said Kateryna, only accommodation in a somewhat serene, quiet neighborhood, because we don’t have a man accompanying us“For now she only has her car.