Business news from Ukraine

Starting January 1, 2027, the UK will significantly reduce government support for the Homes for Ukraine program: monthly payments to British households providing housing to Ukrainians will drop from £350 to £100, according to The Guardian.

As a result, the so-called “thank you payment” will be reduced by 71.4%.

The new rules will apply to both current hosts already participating in Homes for Ukraine and new participants in the program.

At the same time, the British government is also cutting funding to local authorities responsible for implementing the program. The payment to municipalities per arriving Ukrainian will decrease from 5,900 to 3,300.

According to The Guardian, since the launch of Homes for Ukraine in March 2022, 181,000 of the approximately 234,000 Ukrainians who arrived in the UK after the start of the full-scale war have received support through the program. The British government has already allocated more than £1.81 billion to implement the program.

The funding cut is raising concerns among Ukrainians and host families about the program’s continued ability to provide free housing. Program participants interviewed by The Guardian said that the reduction in payments could force some hosts to withdraw from the program.

As one option for continued residency, the British government suggests that hosts could transition from their current status to a standard landlord-tenant relationship, under which Ukrainians would pay for their housing themselves.

This could be a particularly sensitive issue for elderly Ukrainians, people with disabilities, and low-income families, who would find it difficult to pay rent on their own in the British housing market.

It is important to note that the £350 is not rent paid to Ukrainians, but a government payment to the host household. Only one such payment may be made per address, regardless of the number of guests staying there.

For Ukrainians who have transitioned from the Homes for Ukraine visa to the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) program, payments to the host may be made for no more than 18 months from the date the guest first transitioned to UPE. After this period, the government’s “thank you payment” ceases.

Homes for Ukraine was launched by the British government on March 14, 2022. The program allowed UK residents to provide Ukrainians with housing in their homes or separate properties, while receiving a monthly compensation payment from the government.