Some 123 Southwark households have volunteered to take in refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the council leader has said.
Cllr Kieron Williams thanked the residents of the borough who have signed up to house Ukrainians as part of a government-led nationwide scheme at Southwark’s council assembly on Wednesday night (March 23). More than 150,000 people across the UK had signed up to the scheme as of a week ago, which suggests that Southwark’s response may be lower as a proportion of the overall population than the rest of the country. Although the amount of people in Southwark with a spare room is expected to be a lot lower than in most other parts of the country.
Labour’s Cllr Williams said: “All of us have watched with horror over the past few days the scenes of cities that look a lot like ours being torn apart by a war with no good reason, no good explanation.
“We’ve seen millions of people forced to leave their homes, millions of people forced to leave their country. I know every one of us in this chamber wants to see peace for the Ukrainians, want to see them have their country a safe place”.
He added that Southwark would be supporting the new arrivals with schools and jobs, and pressuring the national government to do more to help people fleeing the war.
You can sign up for the Homes for Ukraine scheme here. You must be prepared to take in a family for at least six months. Anyone who is successful can get £350 per month from the government.
Comment: Let’s get Ukrainians in need here and stop unnecessary government red tape immediately
Veoila, the French company, who has several contracts from Southwark to handle our waste stream is still doing business in Russia. There’s likely others. All these businesses add ammunition and extend Putin’s war. Won’t our councillors take action to call out these companies and exclude them from new and renewed contracts?