Predatory males exploiting Homes for Ukraine scheme to host single women

The moment you open your eyes, you take your phone and you go to the news web pages and the Telegram channels with the news. “Every day I pray for my son and my husband and other relatives who still live there,” said Luda. “The first time my husband was able to come over to the Czech Republic in summer and we did a bit of travelling as a family. And for Christmas this year I had to go to Ukraine with my daughters, of course not home, but to the western part of Ukraine, which is much safer. “We were able to meet a couple of times,” Ms Sviridok told the PA news agency.

Another man, in Manchester, joined several Facebook groups and was offering a spare room to a string of young, single, Ukrainian women. The City of Liverpool is celebrating the news it will be a host city… Professor Stephen Davismoon, Liverpool Hope’s Dean of Creative and Performing Arts, composed and arranged the track at the same time as working with the children to devise the lyrics. Sandfield Park and Alt Bridge are both schools for children with special educational needs. Pupils from Sandfield Park School in West Derby and Alt Bridge Secondary School in Huyton delivered a message of support to the war-torn country when they sang You Are Not Alone on stage at Liverpool’s Eurovision Village in May. “We’re thankful to the Czech Republic and the Czech people who have helped us so much and we feel comfortable as much as possible here – but we truly want to go back and get reunited and things but we just don’t know when it’s going to happen.

Within Temptation drop new single, A Fool’s Parade, with Ukrainian producer Alex Yarmak

While she was overwhelmed by how many generous responses she received, she was also alarmed to receive messages from single men wanting to host her. And it is thought that some councils are struggling with a lack of resources to properly settled refugees. A charity head branded the Homes for Ukraine scheme ‘dangerous’ and said she was ‘shocked by the absence of safeguarding checks’. On the 2nd March a recording of Shchedryk was first made during the school’s Ash Wednesday service and sent to schools in Kyiv to show solidarity with them.

If you cannot become a host but would like to help, please share one of our posters, flyers or social media posts with your friends and neighbours. Becoming a host will also not affect any benefits you currently receive. With their soon-to-be-released single A Fool’s Parade addressing “Russia’s pretence regarding the war”, Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel has been filming an accompanying video in Kyiv. In a significant policy reversal, the UK Home Office has withdrawn a contentious policy that restricted protection for certain modern slavery victims. The United Nations has urged the UK Government to ensure that Ukrainian women refugees are not matched with single men, citing fears of sexual exploitation. Someone from the government should meet your guests when they arrive at a welcome point and show them where to wait until you arrive.

Get benefits (money), including child benefits

If your guests have Ukrainian international passports, they’ll be allowed to travel for free on buses and trains for 48 hours after they arrive in the UK. Find out more about free travel for Ukrainian citizens on the National Rail website. You’ll need to help your guests get from where they arrive in the UK to where they’re going to stay. They will usually have to come back later to pick up a visa – this will let them enter the UK. The visa application centre will ask them for proof of their identity – for example an identity card or non-Ukrainian passport. If there are children who have been added to a parent’s passport, the children will need to follow the rules for people without a passport. If you know who you want to host, they should apply online to come to the UK on GOV.UK.

The DEC and other major charities are asking for donations of money rather than goods. Donating money allows international charities such as the DEC to procure what’s required on the ground, so it can be delivered to people more quickly rather than trying to transport https://www.princessdate.agency/ladies-gallery goods from the UK to Ukraine. Twelve months on from Russia’s invasion, she remains in the Czech Republic teaching English as a second language, and has only seen her husband – who continues to take humanitarian aid to villages – twice since leaving Ukraine.

Check what you can do for your guests

She is currently helping to match others with suitable sponsors on social media. On one Facebook group set up to help match Ukrainian refugees, BBC News found a would-be sponsor who appears to live in a one-bedroom flat posting multiple offers to host young women.

• The UK has a welfare system to help people in financial hardship, or who have specific needs.
• You can choose how many months you pay the advance back over, but there is a limit to how long you take to pay it back.
• They will usually have to come back later to pick up a visa – this will let them enter the UK.
• There are concerns that refugees are at risk and could be exploited if matched with an unsuitable host via the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme.

“Matching done without the appropriate oversight may lead to increasing the risks women may face, in addition to the trauma of displacement, family separation and violence already experienced,” it added. In a criticism of the government, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told The Guardian the UK needed a “more appropriate matching process” that ensures women are always placed in safe contexts. If possible, your guests should arrive in the UK at a ‘welcome point’. Try to be in contact with them while you apply so you can get all the details you need.

Benefits in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales

Predatory men are exploiting the Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme to host single and vulnerable women fleeing Putin’s invasion, with ‘30% of sponsors in the UK being men over 40’, an investigation has found. If you are the only adult aged 18 or over living in your property and are receiving the 25% single person discount and you share your home with a Ukrainian refugee(s) you will continue to receive a 25% discount.

You’ll need to give them details like your name, address and passport number. You should be told about any extra needs before you commit to hosting them. You must be willing to let someone live with you for at least 6 months – the longer the better.

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“Liverpool’s love and support for all those affected by the war was evident throughout the Eurovision programme and the children were very clear they wanted to capture that when writing the lyrics for the song. The song has now been released on Wild Hope Records, a label recently founded by Liverpool Hope University, to raise money for those affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Luda Sviridok, 48, fled Kharkiv with her two daughters, aged 17 and 10, on a train along with a number of other women and children from the church community – her husband Sergey, 46, and her son, aged 20, stayed in Ukraine. The minister also advised that early delays to the scheme were because the Home Office “erred on the side of caution” by banning anyone who was flagged on a PNC check. The scheme is now operating under a ‘Red, Amber, Green’ system to ensure people aren’t being unnecessarily excluded from becoming sponsors. In a new interview with The House, refugee minister Lord Harrington confirmed that there is currently no policy that would prevent female refugees being placed with single men under the scheme. “That’s Lviv”, along with their upcoming album, is a collaboration with Ukrainian pop rock band, Skryabin.

Look at the different types of benefits you could receive and how to apply. Dr Alston had already joined forces with other charities to get direct animal aid delivered to Ukraine. If you receive a 50% Council Tax discount because members of your family are disregarded, this will not be affected if you accommodate a Ukrainian refugee. If you have a low income, you can claim for Universal Credit and Council Tax Support. The sponsorship scheme states that accommodation will be provided rent-free.

Paying back your advance

A search on one Facebook group showed one man, who was single and offering a room in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, had liked three posts in the group – all by women aged 23, 30 and 33. Ukrainian evacuee, Olena, 25, found her sponsor through Facebook after posting a picture of herself along with some brief details.

Women from Ukraine who come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme could be placed with single men, sparking concern from housing charities. If you are receiving an exemption for one of these reasons and you let your property to a Ukrainian refugee(s) you will continue to receive the exemption and the name of the taxpayer will remain unchanged. Music 4 Ukraine is releasing the charity single ‘Heal This Broken Land’ on Friday 30th of September 2022, accompanied by an official music video. In total the government had granted 41,000 visas to Ukrainians fleeing the war. A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it would be “more appropriate” to match women and women with children with families or couples than with single men.

The government said there were “robust security and background checks”. We need people who have a spare room or two, an annexe, or even another property, to house a Ukrainian family and help them rebuild their lives. To help raise awareness of the findings, Commonweal will work with both partners to distribute the learnings to stakeholders operating in the relevant sectors and policy-makers.

However, the government does not match hosts with refugees and reports suggest some people could be using social media to find vulnerable women and children fleeing the war. To help house Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion, the UK Government launched the Homes for Ukraine initiative, encouraging members of the public to offer their homes to accommodate refugees. Sponsors willing to host Ukrainian refugees received a £350 payment per month for an initial six-month period. Within a few days after launching, more than 150,000 people and organisations had registered an interest in housing refugees. Given the lack of suitable temporary housing for families with young children, the research study aims to develop a set of condition guidelines for buildings used to house single-parent families.