Ireland's government is preparing a change to the country's refugee policy concerning Ukrainians that would limit their access to state-provided housing to three months before they must secure their own living accommodations, the Irish Examiner said on Oct. 23, citing a government source.
The changes would introduce time limits to a refugee hosting scheme that currently allows Ukrainian refugees to stay indefinitely in state-provided housing.
In addition to privately renting, Ukrainians would still have access to housing through Ireland's "offer-a-home" scheme, in which the government reimburses locals in exchange for providing housing to refugees.
The policy change would make Ireland's accommodation of Ukrainian refugees more closely follow other European countries, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, where housing is provided within a time limit or with a stipulation that the occupant may pay a percentage after six months.
Almost 97,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, with more than 73,000 of them living in state-provided housing, which the Irish Examiner said costs the country 1.5 billion euros a year.
More than 15,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in Ireland are employed.
Countries around Europe have begun to take stock of the programs devised to help Ukrainian refugees, and in some cases, moved to pare them back.
In the U.K., almost 5,000 Ukrainian families who arrived in the country as refugees were reported on Oct. 17 to have risked, or continue to be at risk of homelessness.
That number is expected to rise as some of the sponsorship agreements in the U.K. to host Ukrainians expire.
Thaisa Semenova
(Updated: )
