Nine months after arriving within the UK, Ukrainian refugee Anfisa Vlasova is looking for someplace to spend the night time.
“I’m just trying to move on and survive,” she says.
Britain opened its doorways to Ukrainian refugees on visa schemes final spring.
Now it is a chilly, drab day in early February and Anfisa is dealing with the unthinkable – she is homeless.
Anfisa has been desperately ringing round charities, the native council and anybody she is aware of looking for a spot to remain for the night time. There’s disappointment after disappointment.
But her seek for someplace appropriate is sophisticated by the truth that Anfisa has 4 canine who’ve travelled 1000’s of miles together with her from a battle zone. And she refuses to be separated from them.
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Hugging every of her mini Yorkshire terriers Betsy, Nora, Daisy and Teddy it is apparent simply how a lot they imply to her.
Anfisa says: “They are my emotional support. I already lost everything in the war.”
We’re in Bracknell in Berkshire and it is getting darkish.
There is an Eleventh-hour answer accessible – she might go to a mattress and breakfast offered by the native authority. But her canine must be put into kennels, which Anfisa is not ready to let occur.
Anfisa seems to have run out of choices when assist comes from an surprising quarter.
Also on the lookout for lodging she meets a few of Bracknell’s homeless neighborhood who take her to a neighborhood church.
The House of God wasn’t the place she was anticipating to spend the night time.
“I’m so tired and exhausted because all day just running, calling, searching. So at least I got a roof and it’s warm and I got a meal and my dogs are with me,” she says.
Anfisa, who promoted cosmetics in Ukraine, was displaced twice in her dwelling nation first from Donetsk in 2014, then she fled from Kharkiv because it was being shelled final yr.
She describes the way in which she’s now residing hand-to-mouth as “deja vu”.
Anfisa got here to the UK final May to reside with a British household on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
She then went to a second host – an aged man who Anfisa says needed her to be his carer and companion.
She’s additionally stayed in an house offered by the council and a mattress and breakfast.
She’s nonetheless on the lookout for a everlasting dwelling for herself and her canine.
But while Anfisa’s state of affairs is uncommon the variety of Ukrainian refugees needing assist with housing is quickly rising.
The newest figures present 161,400 refugees are within the UK on visa schemes following the Russian invasion of their nation a yr in the past.
Whilst 46,900 Ukrainians got here to stick with members of the family, most travelled on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme which required British hosts to take refugees in for at least six months.
Available information analysed by Sky News reveals 4,295 Ukrainian households at the moment are turning to native councils for someplace to reside after their placements on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme ended.
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Not all native authorities have offered figures and with councils solely monitoring ‘households’ not individuals inside a family, the precise quantity shall be even larger.
There has been no information collected on Ukrainians who got here as a part of the Family Visa Scheme.
With no finish to the battle in sight – many of the Ukrainian refugees we have spoken to are parting on good phrases from their hosts however now need some independence and a spot of their very own.
But for many it is proving tough.
Tatiana Miller, Ukraine Response Coordinator at Refugee Support in Reading, says housing is the most important challenge for the individuals she sees.
She says half of the Ukrainians on the help group will want new lodging within the subsequent month or two – and renting is proving very tough.
She says: “The main message is we need compassionate landlords and we need local authorities to work with estate agents to accommodate that.
“The time has come after they (the refugees) want their house again.
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“But for Ukrainian people to look for alternative accommodation that means they need to rent and to rent they need a job or have a credit history.
“And Ukrainians haven’t got the quantity of wage that is anticipated.”
Former history teacher Kateryna Korniienko clearly gets on well with her hosts Fiona and Richard Marston who took Kateryna and her two children in on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
She says: “It’s a very good place for us, but it’s not our house, it’s not our property, so every time I remember that I’m just a guest here and I should be polite. I want to keep their life the same as what it was before.”
Whilst Kateryna’s husband Andrew continues to be in Odesa, Kateryna has began working in Berkshire as a instructing assistant and her youngsters are at a neighborhood college.
In Ukraine, Kateryna was a lecturer and historical past instructor however Fiona says her visitor’s {qualifications} aren’t recognised within the UK – a part of the explanation why Fiona is eager to assist Kateryna transfer on by standing as a monetary guarantor on a rental property.
Fiona mentioned: “I think for all of us we don’t want to go on like this forever.
“But for us, it is extra ‘what does Kate need?’
“So my understanding is that what Kate wants is as normal a family life as she can have. And so for her, that means living independently.
“There is that steadiness, is not there, that we are able to all of the sudden not have to fret about when our household comes to remain. But sure I’ll miss them.”
But Anfisa Vlasova – who spent a night in a church with her four mini Yorkshire terriers – hasn’t found the breakthrough she’s looking for.
Since we last met she’s had several nights sleeping rough.
She shares photographs with us of the tent she shared with her dogs.
When temperatures plummeted she was provided a spot in a lodge however her pets would have had to enter kennels – which she refused.
Anifsa informed us earlier than she grew to become homeless she had been provided lodging by the council for her and her pets – however she turned it down as unsuitable.
In one case she mentioned it was as a result of it was a room with a household who had a cat.
She mentioned: “I just want to hide, you know? Under my blanket, closing my eyes, imagining I’m at home, in my bed, in my flat and I’m just hiding under the blanket at the place which I feel is my own space.
“Since I got here right here, simply I had six months of fairly peaceable life with my host household and I’m actually very appreciative to these individuals however afterward, it is a nightmare.”
Source: information.sky.com”