Host voices frustration as minister visits Edinburgh Ukrainian association

A minister has said lessons will be learned after a woman who is hosting displaced Ukrainians vented her frustration at a lack of communication from the Scottish Government.

Neil Gray, the minister with special responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, said the process of matching Ukrainians with Scots who want to host them will be “smoother”.

On Monday, he visited the Edinburgh branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, as he launched a fresh campaign to find new hosts.

Shortly before he arrived, one host told journalists she had tried to contact the Scottish Government for months but to no avail.

Shelagh McNeil, who has provided a home to a mother and adult daughter from central Ukraine, said she took them in after the accommodation they had been promised proved inadequate.

They had been told they would be staying in a one-bedroom flat, but ended up in a caravan for a week, she said.

She said: “There was no vetting and there was no procedures in place for refugees to change hosts.”

The mother and daughter came to stay Ms McNeil’s New Town property through a charity in early April, she said.

The host said she had urged the Scottish Government to put a procedure in place for refugees who want to change hosts, saying she had helped her guests register for things like GPs and local services herself.

She said: “This is ridiculous.

“We have divorce – relationships are going to break down.

Ms McNeil said she was “frustrated” at the experience she and her Ukrainian guests had been through, saying there should be more support for hosts.

Ukrainians also need free bus passes and longer access to local leisure facilities, she added.

After speaking to Ms McNeil, the minister said he would make sure lessons were learned from her experience.

Mr Gray said he had been “humbled” by the number of people who had come forward to act as hosts and hoped more would sign up via a new online portal the government is launching.

The Scottish Government’s super sponsor scheme was paused in early July amid high demand.

There is no target for the number of hosts who will be recruited, Mr Gray said, saying he was “hopeful as many people as possible will come forward”.

He said: “I’ve heard what Sheila’s had to say.

“And I need to pick up with why the check wasn’t carried out to her property and what’s happened in that case.

“We’re obviously looking to learn lessons from the way that the previous round of offers of accommodation came forward to ensure that we’re providing the support that hosts need.”

He added: “I’m very clear that I’m wanting a much smoother system to be operating so that we can have a more sustainable scheme.”

When relationships break down, he said hosts and guests can contact places like the Edinburgh welcome hub for refugees.

Mr Gray also met Alla Lysa, a Ukrainian woman who came to Scotland in April after fleeing the violence around Kyiv.

Ms Lysa, who qualified as a lawyer and psychologist, told journalists she initially stayed in a hotel and student accommodation before finding hosts in Edinburgh.

Uncertainty about the future of Ukraine has seen her focus on living “in the here and now”, she said.

She said: “I told my friends Edinburgh is a magical city. It’s like a lullaby.”