A £1m empty house could be used to house Ukrainian refugees in Southwold
Councillor David Beavan put forward the idea to the town council who seem to be onboard.
Last updated 16th Mar 2022
Liberal Democrat Councillor David Beavan has approached Southwold town council to use an empty house to home Ukrainian refugees.
He posted the idea to Facebook where it received a large positive response.
"Everyone in Southwold, really wants to do everything they can to help these people."
"And we've got a empty four bedroom house, which is owned by SAT or town council, which they're thinking of converting to flats. And they certainly won't be doing anything in it for six months. So why not let an extended Ukrainian family come there?"
Previously the house has been used to store a food bank during covid, but David has said "it's perfectly okay and we will clean it up a bit and check the electrics."
He believes it would be a good space for an extended family.
"You've got to remember, these people have gone through trauma... But if there was a big enough house to have an extended family so they wouldn't feel lonely."
He also told us that he feels Southwold's community is committed to helping as much as they can.
"We are a caring community and there's lots of people would likely help."
He told us when the communities kindness had been seen before
"We saw it in Covid, we had 800 people volunteering to help with the vaccination campaign."
"So we're giving community and we will certainly make people feel welcome."
He also made sure to mention that their help will extend beyond finding housing.
"There's lots of things like schooling and I think their councils are going to get about 10,000 per family to help with schooling. So there would be spaces and local schools so they could come in."
"It's not just a question of a roof over their head. They need a lot of help. But I think we can, we can do that and we would like to."
He also said there would be opportunities for refugees to work. "There's certainly be work for people if they came here. And that's all part of helping them survive."
Councillor David Beavan also wanted to acknowledge that "we do have a a housing situation here and I appreciate some people say, well, why are we giving it to Ukrainians?"
He said "it's not something that's going to be a permanent solution for anybody, because, they're going to convert it to flats."
"We are working really hard to get housing for local people as well and we appreciate that's a problem... We are doing both."