About 25,000 offers of accommodation from hosts under the Homes for Ukraine program have been received so far, with an average of three Ukrainians living in each home, Richard Harrington said. Six months after the Russian invasion, the government is asking existing hosts to allow Ukrainians to stay longer than the minimum half-year period, while appealing for new sponsors. The move comes amid rising living costs, with energy bills expected to rise by 80% in winter, pushing up inflation and raising interest rates. Councils have also warned that homelessness could increase if refugees’ first six-month placements with hosts run out without alternative options. Lord Harrington said he was lobbying the Treasury “very hard” to double the £350-a-month “thank you” payment for sponsors who house refugees for more than six months. “The cost … they’re paying can be a big chunk of rent, the mortgage payments have gone up and everything, and I think it’s absolutely reasonable, in my view, to increase the amount we’re paying them,” he told PA Media . More than 115,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under visa schemes, according to the latest government figures, including around 81,700 refugees through the sponsorship scheme. Harrington said around 4,000-5,000 Ukrainians were arriving in the UK each week. He added that the government emailed everyone who initially expressed interest in becoming a sponsor to see if they were still interested in participating if they weren’t already hosting. He said he expected about 50,000 of the 200,000-plus people who signed up for the program to become hosts. The government wants to recruit additional hosts in areas near which refugees are granted. This would mean that refugees who need to be moved by their sponsors are matched with new hosts nearby, so they do not have to leave the communities where they are already rooted. “I’m not worried about the lack of offers. I’m more concerned that they’re in the right area,” Harrington added. More than 1,300 single Ukrainian households and families have been assessed as homeless or at risk of homelessness as of July 29. Start your day with the top stories from the US, plus the day’s must-reads from across the Guardian Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He added that some councils have said they will act as guarantors for those who want to rent homes, which he is trying to expand. “I suspect some of them will need extra budget to do that, but again, I can argue to the Treasury – it’s my job to say, ‘Well, you’re actually saving money, because then people don’t become homeless.’ The minister said he also wanted to allow refugees to move into the private rented sector. Harrington said he had met with groups representing landlords to ask them if they would waive reporting requirements for Ukrainian refugees. An Office for National Statistics survey commissioned by Harrington this month found that a majority of hosts said the rising cost of living was hampering their ability to support Ukrainian refugees. Almost a quarter (23%) of sponsors who said they would only host refugees for six months or less said their decision not to continue the program was because they could no longer afford it. Just under four in 10 (38%) said they would be encouraged to host for longer if more support was offered. The Treasury says monthly ‘thank you’ payments for landlords are to ‘recognise their generosity’ and do not affect benefit entitlement or council tax status. A spokesman added: “We have already acted to ensure these payments are tax-free and we continue to monitor and review the support provided under the scheme.”
