The Generation Rent activist group says the government must “make it clear that landlords and letting agents can let homes to Ukrainians” with visas.

The statement came in a tweet from the renters’ activist group, which was in turn responding to a social media message from the British Red Cross.

The Red Cross was expressing concern that many Ukrainians who had fled to the UK now had just a year left on their visas; these visas were issued shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine when the duration of the war against Russia was unknown. 

Generation Rent recirculated the Red Cross concern and added: “It is vital that Ukrainian people fleeing the war should be able to find a safe home here in the UK for as long as they need. The government must extend the visa schemes and make it clear that landlords and letting agents can let homes to Ukrainians with these visas.”

It is currently unclear whether the government intends to extend the existing three-year visas the first of which expire in spring 2025.

By the end of September 2023, the government had provided £2.1 billion in funding the Homes 4 Ukraine scheme, the majority through payments to local councils and thank you payments to sponsors, and the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities continues to provide funding for new arrivals. 

This money is not ringfenced as DLUHC wanted local authorities to have discretion in how best to support Ukrainians locally.

‘Thank you’ payments of £350 a month in year one and £500 a month in year two are paid to sponsors hosting Ukrainian refugees, but these are due to finish one year before visas expire.