Wiltshire Council will lease properties to families to avoid them becoming homeless when their Homes for Ukraine scheme agreement finishes
A council is to use Government funds to buy houses for Ukrainian refugees who are coming to the end of their stay with British hosts.
Wiltshire Council has become the first to publicly declare that it will buy houses across the county and then lease them back to Ukrainian families to avoid them being made homeless when their six-month agreements with their UK hosts end. Other local authorities are understood to be considering similar moves.
It follows fears that as many as a quarter of families could pull out of the Homes for Ukraine scheme in face of the cost-of-living crisis. So far around 1,000 across England and Wales have been made homeless out of a total of more than 100,000 Ukrainians.
Richard Clewer, Wiltshire Council leader, said: “As the six-month minimum time expires there will be some Ukraine nationals who face an uncertain future. We are going to use the government funding in an innovative way to purchase homes that can be used for Ukraine nationals.”