Exeter hotel prepares to welcome Afghan refugee families
The location - which is not being named - is just a temporary move while permanent homes are found
Exeter is offering a warm welcome to evacuees from Afghanistan.
The UK Home Office is placing a number of Afghan families in temporary 'bridging' accommodation at a hotel in the city, as part of the government’s Afghan relocation programme.
Exeter City Council says the family members worked with and for UK organisations before the Taliban took power in August.
The bridging accommodation is a temporary measure until individuals and families are found permanent, long term accommodation in locations across the country.
Up to nine families people are expected to move into the temporary Devon accommodation over the coming week, comprising individual adults and families with young children.
Exeter City Council Leader Phil Bialyk said:
"We’ve always said that the city wants to play a full part in helping families forced to leave Afghanistan and start a new life, and I am pleased that we are able to support them in the city.
"Exeter has a proud record of helping refugees, just as it did following the conflict in Syria, and I know that they will receive a warm welcome during their stay in the city."
Cllr Phil Bialyk - Leader of Exeter City Council
Councils across the UK have also been asked to help identify suitable long term accommodation for the resettlement scheme, and in Devon local appeals to private sector landlords have resulted in some potential homes being found.
The Afghan evacuees have been living in quarantine hotels elsewhere, since fleeing the new Taliban regime.
In Devon, City and District Councils, are attempting to identify more long term accommodation specifically from private sector landlords, so that there is no impact on their local housing waiting lists.
Devon County Council is working with local community groups and volunteers to ensure that, once refugees are found suitable accommodation in the county, support around them is available quickly to help them settle in, access local health services and education, and find employment if possible.