How can you support the refugee crisis?

The situation in Ukraine has touched us all. We all want to respond. This page is designed to help you a) think through your response, b) be clear on how Hope into Action (HIA) can support and where we cannot support.

The need

The situation is rapidly changing and will continue to rapidly change both in terms of people flows and government policy response.  We will try to update this website accordingly.

In and From Ukraine: Over 3 million refugees have fled Ukraine in 3 weeks[1]. By any calibration of a disaster this is an extremely significant need and one of the largest and fastest movements of people in any war since the 2nd World War. There are also significant needs in Ukraine.

In other Eastern European Countries: There is huge need in those first response countries (such as Poland and Moldova). We are not able to support those ourselves.

How can I help? If you want to respond to the immediate needs in Ukraine and other first response Eastern European Countries then here are our suggestions:

  • As an organization we believe that prayer can and does change things and would encourage you to join with others around the world praying for the situation at this time.
  • Financially give. If you want to respond we encourage you to support via the DEC appeal where agencies with the expertise and capacity to respond are currently doing so on the ground.

In the UK: The number of Ukrainian refugees who have so far reached the UK is currently quite low, but is expected to dramatically increase. To date, over 130,000 households in the UK have signed up to support a Ukrainian family. A lot is still unknown in how the schemes to host will work (in terms of matching and due diligence of the hosts).

There are also approximately 11,500 Afghan refugees in hotels unable to be housed. In February the Home Office said that some 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees are living in UK hotels at a cost of £4.7m per day[2]. We also strongly encourage people to consider their needs and the needs of any other refugees. These families and individuals may be in just as much if not greater need than some Ukrainians.

How can I help accommodate Ukrainians in the UK?

What can Hope into Action do?

We believe in the local church to add enormous social and spiritual value to any response. That has always been our model and will continue to be. We have also always strived to honour God through the excellence of our work and while we want to respond rapidly, we also want to respond well. Our desire is to enable the local church to respond and to work with them to provide not just accommodation but care and love.

We can help in the following ways:

A)    If you want to ‘host’ and are in a town where we already operate

Please get in touch if your church leadership is willing and able to support you in hosting a family in your home. The church will need to sign an Agreement with us. You and a small team from church will need to be trained by us. Along with the Government processing we will need to assess you and the suitability of your home. Do also come to our conference where we have 2 seminars on this subject.

B)    If you are in a town where we do NOT currently operate AND you have a church willing to support you in ‘hosting’

We would be delighted to build a relationship with you and invite you to our franchise assessment day on 17th May. As above, your church will need to sign an Agreement with us. You and a small team from the church will need to be trained by us. Along with the Government we will need to assess you and the suitability of your home. Do also come to our conference where we have 2 seminars on this subject.

C)   If you have a whole house available (maybe a church owned house) or are willing to buy a house and are in a town where we already operate

Please get in touch if your church leadership is willing and able to support you in housing a family. The church will need to sign an Agreement with us. A small team from the church will need to be trained by us. Do also come to our conference where we have 2 seminars on this subject.

D)   If you have a whole house available (maybe a church owned house) or are willing to buy a house and are in a town we DO NOT operate in

We would be delighted to build a relationship with you and invite you to our franchise assessment day on 17th May. As above your church will need to sign an Agreement with us. You and a small team from church will need to be trained by us. We will need to assess you and the suitability of your home. Do also come to our conference where we have 2 seminars on this subject.

E)    If you have a house and are willing to host but don’t feel called to involve your church, or any other church

We would be delighted to point you in the direction of The Sanctuary Foundation or Reset and encourage you to work through their schemes.

 

Looking forwards:

Although every family and individual is unique, our experience tells us that people fleeing to this country to seek refuge will usually take time to deal with trauma, and need support for more than 6 months to settle into life here. We believe in the support and friendship the local Church can offer over the longer term. We expect there to be people needing accommodation to move on to following the initial stay in people’s spare rooms. We are therefore looking at how we can best prepare to respond to that need of a more stable home in the months to come.

 

For more information:

Do come to our conference. https://www.hopeintoaction.org.uk/Event/conference-2022

Do look at The Sanctuary Foundation, Reset and UK Government websites. The links to these are below, along with some others you might find helpful.

By placing links to these sites here we cannot accept responsibility for any errors on these sites.

UK Government site: https://homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk/

Homes for Ukraine: https://www.homesforukraine.org.uk/

Sanctuary Foundation, supporting new arrivals from Ukraine: https://www.sanctuaryfoundation.org.uk/

RefuAid: https://refuaid.org/

Refugee Education UK: https://www.reuk.org/

Refugees at Home: https://www.refugeesathome.org/

Reset UK Community Sponsorship hub: https://resetuk.org/

The No Accommodation Network: https://naccom.org.uk/

Ukraine take shelter: https://www.ukrainetakeshelter.com/

Upbeat Communities: https://www.upbeatcommunities.org/

Welcome Churches: https://welcomechurches.org/

[1] Ukraine emergency | UK for UNHCR (unrefugees.org.uk)

[2] UK hotel bill for 37,000 migrants actually £4.7m a day, Home Office says - BBC News

Published:

Updated:

Author: Morgan Hicks

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