But as the cost of living crisis weighs more and more, some host families are beginning to wonder if they will be able to afford to house their guests for much longer. Earlier this month, a survey by the Office for National Statistics revealed that 9 per cent of donors said rising inflation and energy prices were “very” affecting their ability to continue the deal, with 21 per cent feels “enough”.
Lord Harrington, the refugee minister, says one in four host families have already suggested they won’t have enough money to keep housing Ukrainians once their initial six-month commitment ends. His response was to lobby to double the government’s monthly ‘thank you’ payment to household grants from £350 to £700. He is “optimistic” that the Ministry of Finance will agree. “People are under pressure,” he says. “I can’t say with hard evidence, but my gut instinct is that if they’re in financial trouble [the increased payment] it will help a lot.”
In the first three months of the scheme, on top of the £350 payments, the government also spent £300m funding local authorities to provide services to refugees. But if a quarter of all those housed today face the prospect of homelessness, it may take much more to keep them off the streets. “Every person who takes part in a sponsorship saves the state the cost of renting flats for people,” says Lord Harrington, “so I think there’s an economic reason as well as a moral and humanitarian one.”
Some hosts are feeling the pinch. Clergyman Jonathan Clive Blake will continue to host refugees, but told the Telegraph recently that he had spent at least £2,450 preparing his south London home for his guests and had seen his energy bills double since they arrived. And Yegor Lanovenko, a Ukrainian originally from Odessa, who founded the charity Opora (“support” in Ukrainian) to provide a network for refugees, says that among thousands of donors and Ukrainians who are in contact with each other through of its organization, there are increasing stories of rising prices and economic squeeze.
Hostess Linda Johnson, a nursery teacher who opened her family home in Fleet in Hampshire to a Ukrainian mother and her two daughters, has a different perspective. “Just last night my husband Simon and I sat down to work out how we’re going to pay the bills when gas and electricity prices go up. These are difficult times, but just as we will not ask our own children to leave to cut costs, we will not ask Elena, Sofia and Anastasia to leave. We have taken them into our family and we will treat them as we treat our family.”
