It’s been one year since the Homes For Ukraine scheme was launched, and we are encouraging more residents to come forward if they are interested in hosting Ukrainian families in their homes and properties.
Havant Borough Council is calling on more residents in our community to ask for your help with these continuing efforts. We still need more hosts to apply to host families as there are still people arriving in Havant as is across the country.
You can register your interest if you are able to provide at least six months' stable accommodation. This can be anything from an empty room to an unoccupied home, that is safe, heated, free from health hazards, and gives your guests adequate access to bathroom and kitchen facilities. You will receive a monthly payment for this.
If you head on over to Havant Borough Councils website to find all the useful information you will need to be on the way to becoming a host.
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee you will be matched to a family. We call on hosts as and when families are in need of accommodation and support. This is something that can change from one day to the next. We are especially keen to hear from potential hosts who may be able to accommodate larger families.
Iain and Karen from Emsworth have been hosting since June 2022 and have told us
“When our first guest arrived she quickly found a live-in job in a hotel near London, so left us mid July. We subsequently took in another refugee, who had a failed sponsorship in Lincolnshire prior to coming to us.
“We are happy to continue hosting for at least the 6 months that we initially agreed to, and would consider extending this arrangement with our current guest if necessary.
“Initially we found that our current guest required quite a lot of support with all of the Job Centre visits, with transport to appointments and with some health related issues, which we found challenging as we work full time and seemed to spend most of our time at home helping her. However, in the last few weeks her English has started to noticeably improve, and recently she is starting an English for speakers of other languages course (ESOL) at Havant College. She has started to manage to use public transport on her own and has taken telephone calls from the Job Centre without my help, so we are feeling more optimistic about a longer term arrangement.”
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine over 100,000 people have arrived in the UK and are living safely in hosts’ homes. The generosity of the British people including a large number of families in Havant have made the Homes for Ukraine scheme the success it is today.
The process is coordinated by Hampshire County Council and more information can be found on the Support for Ukraine page on our website.
We would like to thank all those who have hosted Ukrainian families so far.