Over £12m spent on providing sanctuary to Ukraine refugees
MORE than £5m has been paid to the Urdd and a further £5.4m spent on hotels to house Ukrainian refugees in temporary accommodation in Wales.
When the Welsh Government declared Wales a Nation of Sanctuary and launched its super-sponsor scheme last year, it committed to housing those fleeing the war in Ukraine in initial accommodation until something more long-term could be found.
The first Ukrainians to arrive in Wales were placed in “welcome centres”, which included the Urdd centre in Llangrannog. To date, the Urdd organisation has been paid £5,170,095 for the use of its centres.
These facilities are designed to provide “wraparound support” to help people find work and enrol children in schools as they settle into life in Wales, as well as finding out if they are eligible for Universal Credit payments.
Initially provided to fleeing families free of charge until they were in a position to move on to more suitable longterm housing in the community, some small fees were introduced this year as people take longer than anticipated to move on.
Instead of taking weeks, refugees are instead taking months, meaning additional capacity has had to be sought.
As a result, the Welsh Government turned to hotels to plug the gap in available accommodation.
To date, £5,431,614 has been paid to hotels to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, although this has not been without problems. The Welsh Government also secured accommodation at universities and holiday parks in Wales at a cost so far of £864,410.
Back in December, the Welsh Government said it was trying to reduce the numbers being put up in hotels as it worked to move people into longer-term options more quickly.
At that point, almost 3,000 Ukrainian refugees had arrived in Wales as part of the super-sponsor scheme. Of these, around 1,500 were accommodated in initial accommodation, including 27 hotels in Wales. However, only around 500 people have managed to move into longer-term accommodation in Wales, while a further 300 have moved on elsewhere outside of Wales.
It has previously been reported that some refugees have found staying in hotels to be “isolating” and actually limited their options in terms of finding work and moving on.
Those trying to leave welcome centres had been caught up in a vicious circle, blamed on a lack of sponsors coming forward, as well as a lack of homes for refugees who arrived through the supersponsor scheme and were trying to leave initial accommodation.
But there have been some heartwarming examples of Ukrainians settling in Wales, including 22-year-old Iryna Matusevych, who arrived at the
Urdd centre with her twin sister Lina last summer. Iryna, who holds a biology and chemical engineering degree and a master’s in electrocoagulation processing, was spotted by Power & Water, a wastewater treatment company in Swansea.
In addition to the government supersponsor scheme is the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. Home Office data shows 3,310 Ukrainian refugees in Wales have entered through this programme, which pairs refugees with members of the Welsh public, called “hosts” or “sponsors”, who are willing to provide accommodation. But some are being left homeless as those sponsors pull out for a variety of reasons, including the cost-of-living crisis.
As of January 17, data from the Home Office shows 3,028 people had fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and arrived in Wales, directly sponsored by the Welsh Government. In a Freedom of Information request submitted at the end of December, the Welsh Government confirmed that £12,373,973.24 has been spent on initial accommodation for Ukrainian refugees to date, with a further £13,000,000 committed to cover costs up to the current date.
There is a three-phase approach to settling new arrivals in Wales. An initial five-week welcome phase free of any payments is followed by a second fiveweek support phase where they will be able to start receiving Universal Credit if they qualify and be put on to housing lists. The final move-on phase sees Ukrainians leave their initial accommodation and settle into their own homes.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “This has been a huge Team Wales response to a terrible conflict. This partnership approach will continue as we support people to move on into longerterm accommodation – either to hosts or into private or social housing across Wales. Anyone coming to the end of their sponsorship arrangement should approach their local authority to discuss alternative arrangements and appropriate support.
“We are working with local authorities, social landlords and partners to increase capacity of high-quality accommodation options, including providing more host accommodation, to support everyone who needs a home in Wales.
“In 2022-23 we are investing £89m through our Transitional Accommodation Capital Programme to deliver more good-quality longer-term accommodation to help everyone in housing need. We are also investing over £197m in homelessness and housing support services. We have also taken the decision to include £40m in our Draft Budget to continue our support of people from Ukraine in Wales in 2023-24 and a further allocation of £20m in 2024-25.”