October 10, 2022 4.00 pm This story is over 20 months old

Accommodation pressures as 300 more Ukraine refugees expected in Lincolnshire

Local councils are looking for new hosts to come forward

Three quarters of hosts in Lincolnshire say they will continue beyond the first six months for housing Ukrainian refugees, but local councils say they are also looking for new people to open their homes.

Lincolnshire is now home to more than 850 Ukrainian refugees, including Alona Chelebi who has been living in host accommodation in Market Deeping since May.

She is coming to the end of her six months and is preparing to move into rented accommodation with her mother and young son, but it will be expensive.

She told Look North: “It’s going to be £975 a month, my salary is not very high. First I need to sign a contract with the landlord and then I’m just going to the job centre and showing them the contract.

“After they see the contract, they are considering if they are just going to support us (with) the housing benefit.”

Potential new hosts for refugees may not be in the same area as their friends or job and volunteers, including from the Stamford Diversity Group, are working to try and relieve the situation.

Councillor Amanda Wheeler from the Group told BBC East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire: “Some of the Ukrainians as soon as they arrived in Stamford were very keen to stand on their own two feet.

“The key thing is that there’s not much in the way of social housing available because we have a bit of a housing crisis in this country, so it’s about providing support with getting rentals privately.”