A Ukrainian woman who has found refuge in Buckinghamshire has revealed she wakes up every day worrying about her young son being ‘retraumatised’ if they are forced to relocate away from their community.
Tania Orlova came to the UK in April with her son Danylo, eight, and 74-year-old mother Liubov, under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
They are being hosted by a family of three in High Wycombe, who have agreed they can stay for between nine and 10 months.
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Ms Orlova said their hosts are ‘so helpful and supporting’, but it is ‘absolutely natural’ that they will want their space back at some point, while it will also be more comfortable for her family to have their own home.
The 44-year-old from Kyiv has started looking for rental accommodation on the Rightmove and Zoopla websites but said her lack of credit history in the UK was causing problems, while properties in the area she had settled in are ‘expensive’.
She told the PA news agency: “Now we have come to UK, it’s really so welcoming and nice.
“At the same time, I feel like we are in this Cinderella fairytale when we’ve got everything nice – nice dress, we are in this nice place, with a nice carriage – but then there is a certain time when our carriage would turn to be a pumpkin.
“And now – what if I can’t find an apartment in Buckinghamshire, which is an expensive county?
“What if I have to move, what if I have to move from High Wycombe, where I am now, to another place, so I have to traumatise my kid again to move again?
“You wake up and you think about it.
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“What, what could I do? What could I do next? What could be my next step?”
Wednesday, August 24 will mark six months since the start of the war, which has seen approximately 81,700 Ukrainians arrive in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, with hosts expected to provide accommodation for at least half a year.
Refugees whose placements are set to end will need to find alternative accommodation either independently or with another sponsor.
And since arriving in the UK, Ms Orlova has found a job working at a local charity, her son is settled in school and the family is registered with a GP.
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A spokeswoman for Buckinghamshire Council said it will be challenging to find accommodation in some locations ‘due to a lack of availability and high housing costs’.
She said: “We want to help our guests from Ukraine as much as we can and are looking at solutions which will require all tiers of government, the private and voluntary sector to work together.”
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