'Our experience hosting Ukrainian refugees'

Lily Canter shares her experiences having opened her home to Ukranian refugees for a year.

Watching the Eurovision Song Contest was an emotional experience this year.

As the UK and Ukraine united on our television screens, so did the people in our living room.

For the past 10 months, we have been hosting Ukrainian refugees in our family home.

Earlier this month as I sat down with my husband and two boys to watch Eurovision, Sveta and Vlad joined us on the sofa.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I saw the emotion in our guest’s faces as the Ukrainian representatives came onto the Liverpool stage waving their country’s flag.

Many of our friends have commented on our philanthropy during the past year but if I am completely honest hosting this couple has been financially, as well as personally, rewarding.

Financial considerations

When the Ukraine conflict broke out in early 2022 my husband and I were keen to help, especially since we have a spare room.

It wouldn’t be the first time we had shared our home, having housed an international student for two years before the pandemic.

As with the student, we were economically as well as altruistically driven.

We wanted to support fleeing refugees but the cost of living crisis had also created a £300 deficit in our monthly household budget.

Fuel and food bills were rising and very quickly we had used up our £1,000 buffer and gone into our overdraft.

I am someone who carefully pours over our finances, always finding ways to save and make money whether it’s making my own snacks, buying out-of-date food or cultivating side hustles.

But it still wasn’t enough and we needed to boost our income.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme offers a monthly thank-you payment of £350 to hosts, and guests receive universal credit to enable them to buy their own food and contribute to household items.

So we decided it made financial sense to house someone and in August 2022 Sveta, a grandmother from Poltava, came to live with us.

Her daughter and granddaughter were already living in a nearby village so she had a support network.

Later in the year we urged Sveta to get her 60-year-old husband Vlad to the UK as the bombings and blackouts increased.

He came to live with us in December last year.

Despite having two refugees in our house the payment remained at £350 because it is irrespective of the number of people you host.

However, over the winter from November to March, it rose to £500 a month to help with additional fuel costs.

A positive experience

The experience has been nothing but positive.

Our boys, aged seven and 10, have learnt about Ukrainian culture but more importantly they now understand the power of helping others.

They have come to love their ‘adopted’ grandparents and Sveta and Vlad are very much part of our extended family.

The monthly payments have helped to bring our household account back into the black and in August the payments will rise to £500 once we have been hosting for more than a year.

Despite having two extra people in the house our outgoings have not dramatically risen.

Although we use a little more gas and electricity, according to our smart meter this is approximately £50 extra a month, which the 'thank you' payment more than covers.

But we have made big savings elsewhere.

Part of our guest’s daily routine is walking our dog, Zippy, meaning we no longer need to pay for a dog walker.

This has saved us around £80 a month.

They are also happy to babysit and help out after school meaning we have saved money on ad hoc childcare.

Over time this has amounted to hundreds of pounds.

Another big benefit has been economy of scale meaning we share the cost of buying more household items in bulk such as toilet paper, washing powder and cleaning products which over time is cheaper.

Sveta is also very canny at finding bargains and discovered a factory outlet shop we never even knew about.

She also volunteers at an eco-village and comes home with bags of free bread and vegetables each week which are food waste from supermarkets.

And although we cook separately, Sveta and Vlad batch cook meaning there is always spare salad, soup or sides available when we need to whip up a quick meal for the kids.

When we go away on holiday we no longer have to pay someone to feed the cats and we know the house is being looked after.

The only disadvantage was the amount of paperwork we had to complete when they both arrived and the three-month delay in receiving our first payment.

Admittedly we did pay out for them in the beginning but we were focused on their mental health and wellbeing so this was a cost we were happy to absorb.

Some people might think it would be intrusive or inconvenient to have strangers in their home but my first response to this is ‘so what?’

People are in desperate need of homes and the least we can do is support them.

How would you feel if your grandparent’s country was invaded and no one would help them because it was inconvenient?

And, really, it hasn’t been difficult.

Yes, we have probably been very fortunate, but it is just like living with extended family and it has helped us out of a tough financial spot when we needed it most.

It has been simultaneously selfless and selfish.

We have shared our home but we have also been able to share the costs and save money.