Many who fled the conflict may end up on the streets as host governments reduce payments to them, the British paper has reported
A large number of displaced Ukrainians across Western Europe may become homeless as the conflict between Moscow and Kiev approaches its third year, British daily The Guardian has reported.
Many of those who fled from the fighting to the West are at risk of ending up in the streets because of “dwindling” government support, the article on Tuesday said.
This could significantly increase Europe’s homeless population, considering that, according to UN data, there are some 6.1 million Ukrainian refugees in the UK and the EU.
In Britain, over 9,000 refugee households are reportedly under threat of homelessness, according to the Red Cross, as local authorities provide them with “inadequate” support and people are now far less eager to offer accommodation to Ukrainians.
Poland initially willingly accepted more than a million refugees from Ukraine but the attitude towards them in the country has shifted since then, over concerns about social benefits, the Guardian noted.
It added that earlier this month Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called on Western European countries to stop payments to Ukrainian males, to encourage them to return home and fight against Russia.
In August, Hungarian authorities ended housing assistance for thousands of refugees after declaring some western areas of Ukraine “safe” to return to.
The Guardian also pointed to reports from across Europe, saying that, due to various bureaucratic hurdles, those fleeing the conflict are often unable to obtain protections that are supposed to be guaranteed to them under EU law.
