Ukrainians leaving UK because they cannot get housing, volunteer made MBE says

Alice Good, 55, from Northumberland, said she is ‘honoured and overwhelmed’ after being recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Dr Alice Good, founder of Sunflower Sisters, with her seven-year-old daughter Molly (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

Some Ukrainians who fled to the UK are having to leave the country because they cannot find housing, a volunteer made an MBE has said.

Alice Good, 55, from Northumberland, said she is “honoured and overwhelmed” to be recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours for setting up Sunflower Sisters, a support group for families arriving in the country from Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia last February.

Ms Good, who came up with the idea after seeing a picture of a mother with a child the same age as her daughter, said 14,000 refugees have been housed by her group.

She has called on the Government to step in as families come to the end of their sponsorship arrangements and try to find their own private rented accommodation.

With many of these Ukrainians, they may have had great careers back in Ukraine, but when you don't speak the language you're not going to be able to come and do the same thing most of the time in the UK

Alice Good

Many are “trying to find housing” but are finding it difficult, Ms Good said.

“In the north of England it’s a little easy to get social housing,” she said.

“In the south it’s extremely difficult to get social housing with the cost of rental properties.

“With many of these Ukrainians, they may have had great careers back in Ukraine, but when you don’t speak the language you’re not going to be able to come and do the same thing most of the time in the UK.

“So they’re taking a lot of menial jobs that might be cleaning, it might be working as a kitchen assistant.

“They don’t have the money to be able to afford to rent nice properties.

“But the biggest problem we’ve got is that to get a rental property, you need to have a credit history.

“If you don’t have that and you don’t have six months’ rent up front, you’ve got to have a guarantor.

“Well, they don’t have a guarantor.”

Ms Good continued: “What I would say to the Government is you need to work with the councils to try to set up some type of guarantor system for these people because some of them are now considering going back to Ukraine, and indeed some are going back to Ukraine because they can’t get a home.

“And, of course, you’ve got women who’ve gone through the whole trauma of bringing their children, integrating them into the community, getting them into a new school, the whole language barrier and because they can’t get housing are having to move a long way away.”