News / Ukraine
Bristol charity makes fresh plea for Ukraine family sponsors
Earlier this year, Bristol saw its first Ukrainian families arrive in the city after nearly 300 residents offered their homes under the government-funded Homes for Ukraine scheme.
At that time, 385 Ukrainians had applied for a visa to come to Bristol, with 107 visas approved.
But now sponsorship is stalling.
is needed now More than ever
In a joint statement, UK charities are making a plea to the Government and the public, as Ukrainians coming to the UK are struggling to find UK hosts to sponsor them.
Charities have warned that the Homes for Ukraine scheme “desperately needs more UK hosts”, and particularly, hosts able to offer Ukrainian families two or more rooms.
Opora, a UK charity connecting Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country to UK hosts, says it has over 3000 Ukrainians waiting to come to the UK and only 200 hosts available.
Greg Thompson of LoveBristol has also said the following: “… a deluge of interest in March and April with 200,000 UK hosts registered to the government scheme, many hosts lost hope due to the chaos within the Home Office processing. Some applications were taking 12 weeks.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwKls-AozQ/
Whilst the backlog of applications is moving more quickly now, thousands of Ukrainians still face being turned away as the charities offering hosts have run out of UK sponsors.
LoveBristol will have to pull out of offering UK sponsorships in Poland altogether unless more hosts register.
A volunteer who has worked in Poland for two months described the situation as “dire” for the Ukrainian families.
“Imagine journeying over a 1000km to get free of the war only to be told by a UK team there is no way for you to come to the UK now.”
“The Welsh and Scottish superhosts have now closed their application process. It’s disheartening when you walk around the humanitarian centres and see all the families who have been through so much to even get there, wanting help and refuge, knowing soon it will be autumn and winter coming and there are so few places for them to go now.”
Toby Illingworth of MAD Foundation also said: “We are extracting people from basements and homes that are being shelled. With a lack of hosts available, especially for larger families, not being able to find a place of refuge for these families is devastating.”
“A concerted effort is needed by the Government to recruit more hosts. We are small charities operating on goodwill and generosity of the UK public and the Government needs to step up and invest in a recruitment campaign”, said Stan Benes of Opora.
To sponsor a Ukranian family, visit the government’s Homes for Ukraine page.
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: First Ukrainian refugees are welcomed into the city
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