After 10,000 sponsors withdrew housing, a potential flood of 18,000 Ukrainians with authorization to enter Scotland would be forced to sleep in emergency “refugee centres” where they would have to share vast halls with many others.
In June, the Scottish Government, which identified itself as the primary sponsor, terminated its Super Sponsor visa programme.
The second cruise ship to shelter migrants in Scotland, MS Ambition, which has the capacity to temporarily host 1,700 refugees, landed in Glasgow yesterday.
The first ship, MS Victoria, which has been parked in Leith, Edinburgh since July and has a capacity to shelter more than 750 migrants, is already home to hundreds of people.
The Super Sponsor programme has issued 29,992 visas as of the most recent data, but only 12,390 refugees have arrived in Scotland, suggesting that more than 17,600 might still be on the way.
More than half of the 20,000 Scots who volunteered as hosts for Homes for Ukraine have now withdrawn, however.
The notion of using huge halls as dormitories for emergency housing, as was done in Poland when the war started, is now being thought about.
But although governments emphasised that protecting privacy was a top priority, privacy concerns have been highlighted.
The Super Sponsor scheme was put on hold in July for three months while administrators dealt with a backlog of housing needs, according to Neil Gray, the minister for refugees in Scotland. Early June saw an “exponential growth” in the number of people applying for visas under the Super Sponsor programme.
A comprehensive evaluation that pledges to look at “innovative” options to long-term housing for Ukrainians is not expected to be released for a few weeks, but it is being considered as an emergency response.
We clearly want to prevent that, Mr. Gray added. Giving individuals the warm welcome they deserve is the whole goal of the work we’re doing on temporary housing.
“We’re trying to do all we can to get beyond the difficult temporary housing scenario and into a more sustainable position.”
While residents are waiting to be matched with appropriate longer-term housing, the Scottish Government offers sustainable and safe housing.
The MS Ambition’s arrival in Glasgow is a crucial component of that supply, making Glasgow the UK region that offers shelter to the most displaced individuals per resident.
In order to finalise the plans for how the ship would be utilised, “We are working closely with the council and other local partners, with securing the people on board being the top priority.”
Once the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council are satisfied that the essential preparations, including health and safety tests, have been met, this work will start moving forward quickly now that the MS Ambition has arrived.
We don’t want people to stay in temporary housing, like cruise ships, longer than is absolutely required.
“We continue to take substantial steps to expand our capacity for temporary housing and improve our matching system to maximise the amount of persons who may be placed with volunteer hosts who have successfully passed the required safeguarding checks,” the organisation said.
15% of the total number of refugees admitted to the UK have been received in Scotland under the Super Sponsor and Individual Sponsor programmes.
Sarah Boyack, the foreign affairs spokesperson for Scottish Labour, declared: “If this is true, it would be a betrayal of people who need our support today.”
Given what they have already experienced by the time they reach in Scotland, this is unthinkable in terms of people’s privacy and safety.
It reveals the SNP’s inability to make the Super Sponsor plan successful.
This can’t simply be about making declarations to get attention.
Where is the proactive preparation to aid those who are in need of assistance who have been escaping Putin’s invasion for months now?
“We have these unfortunate individuals who have battled their way out of Ukraine with Scotland as the goal in their eyes,” said Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. “I don’t believe they would have imagined an abandoned gym hall as a place to lay their heads.”
Passengers will board and depart the 714-cabin MS Ambition using shuttle bus services that will operate around-the-clock at King George V piers on the River Clyde. The ship is hired for six months and will stay there.
The ship is a component of a Government contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd. worth up to £100 million, which is intended to find and provide travel-related services for Ukrainian refugees.
When I initially learned that new migrants would be staying aboard a cruise ship, I was instantly worried about the security and propriety of this lodging, according to Mr. Cole-Hamilton.
The operators are making every effort to ensure that these ships are comfortable, but this is just a temporary remedy.
These boats may be habitable today, but as they fill up and winter approaches, there is a genuine chance that the situation may worsen.
‘The Scottish Government continues to examine all alternatives to ensure that there is adequate and secure housing for any displaced persons from Ukraine coming in Scotland,’ a spokeswoman for the Scottish government said.
This involves emergency housing contingency preparations as well as enhancing temporary housing, such as preparing the second ship, which is now parked in Glasgow, to securely house displaced persons from Ukraine.
The wellbeing of every displaced Ukrainian remaining in the nation continues to be the Scottish Government’s top concern.
The majority of displaced persons per capita among the four UK countries have landed with a sponsor in Scotland, where over 16,000 have done so.
More than 75% of these immigrants came via the successful Super Sponsor Scheme, which accounts for 18% of all UK immigration.