Renewed appeal to house Ukrainian refugees as student accommodation dries up
Some of the group of approximately 300 Ukrainian refugees who are temporarily staying at the student village accommodation on the Carrigrohane Road in Cork. Picture: David Creedon
There have been renewed calls for Irish families to house Ukrainian refugees as more than 4,000 student accommodation places currently being used will no longer be available.
At present, more than 4,200 refugees who fled the war in Ukraine are housed in student accommodation around the country.
However, the refugees will be forced to vacate these facilities over the next couple of weeks as the college term resumes and students take their rooms back.
The Red Cross is now urging families who pledged to take in refugees to complete their garda vetting and is encouraging other families to come forward and accept Ukrainians into their homes.
Liam O’Dwyer, secretary general at the Irish Red Cross, warned that the accommodation situation is in a “grave crisis” and there will be a “significant problem” if the number of refugees arriving into Ireland continues to increase.
He said those that are not allocated to an Irish family will most likely be sent to some form of emergency accommodation — which includes temporary housing in Citywest, Co Dublin.
More than 3,000 vacant houses and 6,800 shared houses have been pledged by the public to house Ukrainians, however, just 35% of these have been filled to date.
Mr O'Dwyer said delays in the system and a change of mind among Irish families were among the reasons why more families had not yet been housed. He told RTÉ’s that 30% of those who previously pledged accommodation have rowed back on their pledge, either because of changing circumstances or a change of mind.
However, he said the delays are not the fault of the “hugely efficient” Red Cross, which has 50 working on the situation. They have made more than 100,000 calls to Irish families to ensure they have completed the process.
“We have contacted absolutely everybody,” he said. “But some people simply haven’t answered. Others have simply said ‘No, we’re withdrawing’. Others have said ‘We’ve got people in already’, through an informal network which is great.”
Part of the process involves a video call for identity verification which is understood to have added to the delays in the system. When Ukrainians have obtained employment, the need for childcare in an area can also complicate the process of relocating from student accommodation.
Mr O’Dwyer said it is “huge” advantage to be taken in by a family.
“If a refugee got into a pledged accommodation, particularly a shared accommodation, it really gives them an opportunity to interact with Irish people,” he said.
“It enables them to integrate really well. We have witnessed that it builds up tremendous relationships.”
“There is huge learning on both sides. There are times it does not work out, let’s call it as it is, sometimes it doesn’t, and we have to intervene. 95% of the time this works really well and the experience is that both sides learn very much.”
As an incentive, the Government is paying €400 per month for every property that hosts Ukrainians “in recognition of this contribution to the effort”.
Although many Ukrainians are happy in student accommodation, which creates a localised community and gives them agency compared with sharing a house with an Irish family, many prefer to accept pledges rather than relocate to temporary housing in Citywest.
The Red Cross has been coordinating pledges from families to take in Ukrainians into their own homes or a second vacant property.
The charity sends the information to The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; the International Organization for Migration with the United Nations; and the Peter McVerry Trust.
The organisations then pair Ukrainians with pledges and organize Garda vetting for each member of families taking in Ukrainian children.
More than 6,000 Ukrainians currently work in Ireland and all receive EU benefits and protections as they are under the temporary protection directive activated by the EU earlier this year. More than 7,000 children are also enrolled in schools across the country.
