SNP ministers have been accused of “betraying” Ukrainian refugees after it was revealed more than 7,500 are still stuck in temporary accommodation in Scotland.
Data obtained through Freedom of Information requests show that almost one third of the 23,000 Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Scotland since Russia’s invasion in February last year are still waiting to be given a permanent home.
Statistics from 30 out of Scotland’s 32 local authorities show that there are 7,596 Ukrainian refugees being sheltered in temporary accommodation, 1,862 of which are children.
The local authority with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees stuck in temporary accommodation was Edinburgh City Council, with 2,945, of which 823 are children.
The majority of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Scotland through Edinburgh Airport.
Glasgow City Council has recorded 2,058 refugees in temporary accommodation, of which 288 are children.
Argyll and Bute and Inverclyde did not respond to the request for information, while Fife Council claimed that they do not hold the requested data.
The Scottish Government won approval of the UK Government to set up a super sponsor scheme, where refugees arrive in Scotland before being allocated a placement in order to speed up the process.
SNP ministers paused the scheme in July last year, with no timeline given for when the process will be restarted.
The figures are revealed after it was reported last month that a Ukrainian family initially situated in Fife was offered temporary accommodation 130 miles away in Dumfries and Galloway.
Tetiana Repa's family moved to Cupar in Fife after fleeing the war in Ukraine last year. However, after their accommodation arrangement ended, Fife Council offered the family temporary accommodation, 132 miles away, in a hotel in Dumfries. This is despite Repa and her family having already settled in Cupar for work and school.
Scottish Conservative shadow housing and social justice secretary, Miles Briggs, said the refugees had been “woefully let-down” by SNP ministers, after the super sponsor scheme was paused.
Mr Briggs said: “The fact that so many thousands of Ukrainian refugees are still holed up in temporary accommodation more than a year after the first of them arrived in Scotland is unacceptable.
“It represents a shocking betrayal by an SNP Government that over-promises and under-delivers.
“These are vulnerable people who fled Putin’s brutal invasion of their homeland, and they have been woefully let down by ministers.”
He added: “The SNP had to pause their much-trumpeted super sponsor scheme after it turned out that, typically, they had over-estimated their ability to cope with the number of refugees.
“Despite the fact that, under their watch, Scotland already had a drastic shortage of housing – exacerbated by their interference in the rental market – they made entirely unrealistic promises which they were unable to keep. “As a result, families have been shunted around or kept in accommodation that isn’t suitable for the long term.
“That is a shameful way to treat people who want simply to get on with their lives in peace, and to whom the SNP Government held out false hope.”
Meanwhile, funding has been renewed for a campaign to help vulnerable people apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).
Through the Stay in Scotland campaign, in partnership with the Citizens’ Rights Project, council umbrella body Cosla and Settled, an independent charity helping EU citizens to stay in the UK, more than £200,000 is available to help the applicants.
Migration Minister Emma Roddick said: “As we continue to build the case for an independent Scotland within the EU, additional funding for the Stay in Scotland campaign will help ensure EU citizens, particularly those who need assistance with complex applications, get the support they need to gain settled status.
“We’re also urging the Home Office to immediately upgrade everyone from pre-settled to settled status. This would help remove the unnecessary stress and anxiety of being forced to reapply to the EUSS.”
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