HFU0006

Written Evidence submitted by Sanctuary Foundation

To the attention of the Public Accounts Committee,

My name is Dr Krish Kandiah and I am the Director of Sanctuary Foundation, a charity which inspired over 29,000 people to pledge to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their homes before the UK government had set up the Homes for Ukraine Programme. We then helped advise the UK government on the scheme on their Core Delivery Group and Delivery Board at DHLUC and Home Office and provided ongoing support to Ukrainians and their hosts in the areas of welcome, welfare, work and worthwhile housing.

I would like to submit evidence on the financial benefit of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

The HFU Scheme, relative to the Afghan resettlement scheme, was far better value for money.

On an annualised basis housing 10,000 Afghan refugees in hotels costs around £438 million per year: this is around £1.2 million a day, or £120 per night per refugee. Housing 117,100 Ukrainians in this way would cost annually £5.12 billion a year.

A conservative estimate puts the HFU Scheme hosting cost at £500 a month with the current thank you payments. This comes to £702 million a year. This is a saving of around £4.4 billion pounds a year.

The true saving is much greater as many Ukrainian families are being hosted in groups. At the very least this is a 90% cost saving to the taxpayer on accommodation alone.

There are other as yet uncalculated cost benefits of the programme, in particular due to the soft landing of being welcomed into households and families in terms of:

-          Trauma recovery support

-          Overcoming loneliness

-          Support in navigating UK systems

-          Help in finding work

-          Help in finding move-on accommodation

-          Help in integrating into British communities

-          Help in sourcing child-care and other practical help.

November 2023