19.05.2022
‘House a Ukrainian refugee’ has been promoted by the government and various charities for months now. What they haven’t told you is, that this system is being exploited by many Ukrainians.
Just under 54,000 Ukrainians have come to the UK via this scheme. However, some of these people have never even made it to their sponsors and had no intention of doing so.
One woman who I won’t name to protect her identity, so I’ll call her Alice for the sake of the article, said she was speaking to a Ukrainian refugee who messaged her asking if she would be her ‘sponsor’.
Alice responded saying she would need to know a little about each other before proceeding with the application.
The Ukrainian refugee replied “not too much, as I will only be staying a few days”
Alice responded by asking what she meant and what her intentions were when arriving in the UK.
The Ukrainian refugee replied “stay with you for a few days then go to the government and get a hotel or flat”
Alice responded stating “that isn’t the idea of the scheme”, to which the Ukrainian refugee replied, “my friends have done it and it’s okay”.
Alice was shocked and responded to say she doesn’t think she was the right sponsor and wondered how many more had done this.
I was curious myself, so I looked a little further into this problem, only to discover that it’s actually a very common occurrence.
I found a Facebook group filled with people complaining about this very issue.
To protect the people’s privacy I won’t name the group of the people involved.
One woman put a post stating that she had obtained two visas for Ukrainians but she has no idea where the guests are.
A young man replied stating he had been contacted several times by Ukrainians but they only wanted to stay for a day or two so he politely declined.
Another man stated that he thinks it’s a small minority taking advantage of the sponsor’s good nature and he is now extremely sceptical about getting involved in the scheme.
An elderly lady stated that she was housing a young lady from Ukraine who now lives in Norway but remains registered at her address, she is unsure if the young lady will return because she left with her boyfriend.
One disheartened woman said, “What I expect is honesty, not to be used for a visa, I believed I was helping someone who needed it, but it turns out I was lied to”.
Another frustrated man, tells the story of how he drove to Stanstead airport where he was expecting to pick up a Ukrainian refugee. He waited for a full 7 hours after the flight landed but nobody arrived.
He reached out to the Ukrainian on Messenger (Facebook) to which he received no response. The very next morning he received a message saying ” Thank you for the help” and then was blocked from being able to reply.
He contacted his local council to report the incident but they were not the slightest bit interested amd neither were the police.
A lady replied underneath his post saying “I had this problem too, they just want to get to the UK and then make their own arrangements”. They do this by trying to get their own home or hotel room after reaching out to the Home Office.
The government have made an active loophole that Ukrainians are using to get to the UK and jump the housing queue.
This is just one Facebook page with ‘hosts’ sharing their stories. Now I’m not suggesting that every Ukrainian refugee is exploiting the system but it’s clear that there are a fair few who are.
After a quick search online, I soon discovered that this problem is all over the country and has been happening since they first arrived.
Social housing in the UK is extremely scarce and to discover that refugees are exploiting the system for their own gain is of course no surprise but still an absolute insult to the taxpayer and especially those sleeping rough or stuck on housing waiting lists.
Left-wing rags such as The Guardian have vaguely reported on this issue claiming Ukrainian refugees are being made homeless by their hosts but that simply isn’t the case, what’s really happening is they are taking a leaf out of the illegal immigrant’s book and have discovered a shortcut to get their own home.
I’ve reached out to the Home Office for a comment on the matter but there has been no reply as of yet.
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