When war broke out in Ukraine, Stockport mum Lisa Raynes wanted to help. She used Facebook to offer her home to those in need and was quickly matched with a family.
Within weeks, Lisa had two refugees living with her in Gatley. Angelika Zonzova and her husband Valerii moved up from London while their sons, Dorian, 17 and Camuil, 15, remained in Ukraine.
It took a while for the teenagers to join their parents in the UK. The pair found refuge in the Czech Republic while Lisa arranged their visas. When everything was approved, Lisa's husband collected the boys and their cat Matilda from Prague.
The Ukrainian family, along with Lisa, her husband and three children, now all live together in a five-bedroom house. Lisa anticipated the family would stay with them for around six months.
But as the cost of living continues to rise, the architect is keen to find the refugees their own home to settle into – but is struggling to find a private landlord willing to take them on.
"We live in a five-bed extended semi," Lisa, 50, told the Manchester Evening News. "It's not enormous; we're just a normal house.
READ MORE: Relocation worries for Ukrainian refugee families as time with hosts nears end
"We've made two rooms available - one for the parents and one for the boys. We've had to turf out one of our children to make room. Alex is 20 and at uni, we've cleared him out of his room and put his stuff in bin bags.
"It's not like we live in a mansion where they can live unnoticed for months and years. It does have a knock-on effect on us."
Since moving to Greater Manchester, Angelika has taken up a cleaning job at a hotel while Valerii is working as a welder. Dorian and Camuil have both been enrolled at The Kingsway School. Due to the family becoming settled, Lisa wants to find them a home within the Gatley area.
But with a competitive rental market and no accommodation being offered by the council, Lisa fears the family will be uprooted again just as they are getting used to their new lives. “We thought it was going to be short-term,” she added.
“Over summer, Alex came back and he needs his room now so it’s putting pressure on the household. It’s not like we’re doing it to make money. Stockport Homes contacted us and asked if we would like to extend our stay for 12 months and we said no. We don’t want to see them on the street, and we wouldn’t turf them out, but we would like them to get a house.
“Gatley is a nice area. It’s reasonably affluent; even prices in Wythenshawe are high now for rentals. We were looking into rentals initially thinking we would be able to pick something up for £600. When we started helping them, the first couple of conversations we had with landlords were that they weren’t going to take on Ukrainian tenants.”
Lisa claims she approached Stockport Homes, which manages the housing stock owned by Stockport Council, but was told she could only have the refugees matched with another host. However, the family are set to receive housing benefit and help with a deposit which Lisa hopes should assist them in finding a rental property in the area.
Around 81,700 refugees have come to the UK under the Homes For Ukraine scheme since the start of the war in Ukraine, with hosts expected to provide accommodation for at least six months.
Refugees whose placements are set to end will need to find alternative accommodation either independently or with another sponsor. Research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the rising cost of living and lack of affordability was cited by 23 per cent of hosts who do not want the arrangement to continue beyond six months.
Councils fear that homelessness could rise, with local government figures showing at least 1,300 Ukrainian refugee households had become homeless or been threatened with homelessness as of July 29.
“We want them to set up a new life; we want them to be set up on their own,” Lisa continued. “They can’t relax properly and we can’t relax properly.
“We had miscommunications around food and we were double cooking and there was wastage. Everyone has different dietary requirements so it was getting quite tricky. It’s a bit like a flat share where everyone has different tastes.”
While Lisa says her family receive £350 a month to help host the refugees, the money has already been spent.
“Our shower is running all the time,” she continued. “We’ve already spent the money the council gave us going to get the kids, taking time off from work and that sort of stuff. It’s not always related to bills. We were thinking about installing a second bathroom, but (the family moving in) gave us an incentive to install it.”
Lisa is now desperate to find a “compassionate” landlord who is willing to take the family on as tenants once they receive their housing benefit.
In a statement, Stockport Council and Stockport Homes Group said: “We thank all of those Stockport residents who have shown a huge amount of kindness in inviting people into their homes. Any family struggling with the rising cost of living and finding this to be a barrier to hosting Ukrainian guests can contact the council directly by emailing migrantcommunities@stockport.gov.uk.
“While the cost of local housing is out of our control, the council is supporting Ukrainian guests whose hosting arrangements are coming to an end to find affordable and sustainable housing solutions. We know that unfortunately, this may mean relocating to a different part of the borough, but we will work with families to try and support these moves.
“We are offering support for all hosts and families such as running housing options information sessions and we are also meeting with guest households individually to develop resettlement plans. We are also encouraging Local householders to consider hosting someone who has already arrived in Stockport through the scheme.”
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