The Irish Red Cross has warned against cutting payments to people hosting Ukrainians in their homes.
The Government has agreed to wind down the €600 Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme in the final four months of this year and to end it next March, reports RTE.
A reduction to €400 will be introduced in September, affecting around 42,000 people in hosted accommodation.
Head of International and Migration with the Irish Red Cross Niall O’Keeffe said the payment “helps refugees integrate into communities right across the country,” reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: “It’s cost-effective and not alone that, for people who are in that accommodation, they are scattered right across the country, they are in communities.
“We know from our own engagement with those households, those Irish households, is that most of the time they are helping them to introduce them to local community.
“They are helping them to get jobs in the local cafe, in the local shops, in childcare, in building and these are really valuable kind of pathways for Ukrainians who are here,” reports RTE.
Mr O’Keeffe said the payment is a recognition for those who “opened their doors” and is not a compensation for rent.
He said the Ukrainian refugees are being hosted in 23,000 households across the country, reports RTE.
Mr O’Keeffe said data from the Irish Red Cross shows 90% of those accommodations involve people who are not, or were not, in the rental market.
“Our concern around this scheme is that it will be reduced, that households will no longer provide that accommodation, and so you will lose some of those 43,000 accommodation spaces from the sector and then you will have people who are the Ukrainians who are themselves now being pressurised to go into the rental sector and put more pressure on that sector,” he added, reports RTE.
Mr O’Keeffe said there needs to be a “transition,” but added the scheme should continue because it is an “important pathway for people.”
“It does allow people to gradually move into the community to get to work.
“We would be particularly concerned for people who are vulnerable, who are not able to get jobs, who have been here maybe only a short period of time, and who are not in a position right now to be able to live independently.
“But they will over time, and so this scheme provides that support for those more vulnerable people,” he said, reports RTE.
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