The Plzeň Region is spending roughly one-third of what it was paying for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees each month before 1 July, when the state set new conditions for supporting only people at risk. The region has enough accommodation capacity, reported Rudolf Špoták (Pirates). According to him, there are now around 30,000 refugees from Ukraine in the region, of which 1,500 to 2,000 are vulnerable persons who receive state support for accommodation through the region. Since 1 July, the state has been paying for accommodation for mothers with children, young people under 18, the elderly and the disabled. The others have to fend for themselves and pay commercial rents.
“Instead of the 60 million we were paying until June, we are now at 17 million. There is accommodation capacity for people at risk, there is no problem,” Špoták said. Private landlords have offered enough at the region’s request.
“We already have a lot of mothers with children who fall into vulnerable groups, but they are able to secure accommodation on their own because their entire families work here. So they can afford to pay for better quality commercial accommodation, and there are more and more of them,” the governor said. And some refugees have returned to Ukraine.
According to the governor, the Plzeň region still retains the highest number of employed refugees of any region in the country, between 15,000 and 16,000 out of a total of over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees employed in the country.
Over 38,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in the Pilsen region in the 1.5 years since the outbreak of the war. “But it is difficult to say what the real situation is. We think there will be around 30,000,” the governor said. He said if they return to Ukraine, they do not have to cancel their temporary protection. It is only cancelled if they want to apply for it in another EU state, but he said that was a maximum of dozens a month.
The situation is likely to change after the holidays. “A lot of refugees, for example, have been returning to western Ukraine for the summer and many of them will be coming back to us with their children at the start of the school year,” the governor said. Also important is what the winter will be like in Ukraine. “According to discussions with our Ukrainian colleagues, last year’s was extremely mild by Ukrainian standards, which is why many people stayed there,” he added. If this year is tougher, more people will come to the Czech Republic.
Regional leaders estimate that up to 60 percent of Ukrainian refugees could stay permanently in the Czech Republic. “There are two scenarios. Either the families will come back or the men who are now at war will come to us to see their wives and children. So we will see,” he added.
Source: CTK
