141 Ukrainian families offered East Riding accommodation by hosts

The County Council says everyone is showing support to the new arrivals

Author: Karen LiuPublished 17th May 2022

We have been finding out how the Government's 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme is working out in the East Riding.

The County Council says as of last week around 141 families and 280 actual refugees have been offered accommodation by hosts.

It also says everyone is showing support to the new arrivals.

Councillor Claire Holmes, Portfolioholder for Planning, Infrastructure and Housing, said: "Our guests are settling in; the children have started at local schools, the adults are enrolling on English language courses as well as exploring the local area. So managing this scheme has involved services from across the Council and everyone's really pulled together.

"Not all those households who make an expression of interest will find a match and that does mean they've been rejected or their offer isn't very much appreciated. Finding the right match is a highly personal decision for the hosts and the guests who join them.

"To ensure that the match works really well, it's important to listen to the views of what the Ukrainian people and the people who are willing to open their home are looking for, and to make sure that their views are heard and respected.

"If they're used to living in the city for example they might not want to come to a rural area because it might be too dissimilar from their previous experience, or they might want to live somewhere where there's an existing Ukrainian community but of course they could quite as easily take the opposite view.

"I simply can't even begin to imagine how much resilience a person would need to come and make a new start in a strange place with relatively unknown people. The outpouring of generosity of the residents of the East Riding has been overwhelming."

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