Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that refugees from Afghanistan are also provided housing opportunities while resettling Ukrainian refugees.

The UK Government undertook the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, helping over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan. Over 4000 Afghans have already moved, or are in the process of being moved, into their permanent homes.

We are working at pace across government and with over three hundred Local Authority partners to move Afghan evacuees into permanent homes as soon as possible so they can settle and rebuild their lives.

We have set up a bespoke local engagement team within The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC), with named points of contact for each region across the country, to support local authorities to come forward with offers of accommodation. DLUHC have also set up an online housing portal to allow people to submit offers of housing support for people who have arrived from Afghanistan. Alongside our engagement with local authorities, we are reaching out to landlords, developers and the wider private rented sector to encourage further offers of properties, either directly to Local Authorities or through our Housing portal.

We will continue to review the impact of any additional support offered to Ukrainian nationals and are committed to the ongoing relocation of the evacuees from Afghanistan.