MORE than 20 homeless applications have been made to BCP Council from Ukrainians who were housed in the conurbation through refugee resettlement schemes.

Plans are being drawn up to invest £510,000 to incentivise the retention of host arrangements and a further £1.1million to incentivise moving guests into the private rented sector.

This would be funded from a grant of around £5.5million which is expected be coming BCP Council’s to cover support provided to more than 500 Ukrainians who have come to the conurbation.

Central government has made a £10,500 tariff per person who arrived in the area available to local authorities.

This money is to allow councils to fulfil responsibilities including initial reception, safeguarding checks, provision of education, work and benefit, and community integration.

A report to the full council meeting on Tuesday, November 8, says the current projected income from the tariff is £5,491,500, which will be claimed in 2022/23 and some in 2023/24.

A lot of focus has turned on the ongoing housing arrangements, with the Homes for Ukraine (H4U) scheme allowing Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

The report by housing health and social care manager Rachel Stewart said: “Locally, the resettlement team have had mounting enquiries on the assistance for hosts to continue with their sponsorship of refugees and for how the council may assist their Ukrainian guests to move on into other accommodation.

“There is a focus on retaining guests within the scheme where possible to avoid the need for households to present as homeless.

“To date there have been 25 homeless applications across H4U and Ukrainian family schemes (nine in temporary accommodation).”

The report identifies a series of risks to the council, including a potential to not meet statutory obligations, a potential to challenge from central government for not meeting requirements of resettlement schemes and reputational damage if the local authority does not effectively resource the co-ordination and day-to-day work of the services.

Councillors will be asked to accept the government grant money and allocate £1,098,000 for incentivising moves for refugees into the private sector.

Ms Stewart’s report says: “The tariff funding must be claimed by BCP Council to support the authority to provide wrap-around support to individuals and families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities, as set out by the government.”