According to a famous archbishop, the family of refugees he was lodging under the Homes for Ukraine programme were “economic migrants” rather than “real refugees.”
The 65-year-old Jonathan Blake, who presided over Big Brother star Jade Goody’s marriage while she was near death, suggested on social media that some people escaping Vladimir Putin’s invasion were taking advantage of the programme.
When he agreed to hand up his property in Welling, Bexley, Reverend Blake, the archbishop of the liberal Open Episcopal Church, claimed he was contacted by a number of families.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Blake, who performed Britain’s first homosexual wedding blessing on live television, said that he finally accepted a family on May 24 that included a mother, father, and three kids who were ages five, eleven, and fifteen.
He asserted that he spent £2,500 beautifying his house in advance of their visit, and that after they arrived, he registered the family with the neighbourhood doctor and enrolled the kids in “great” local schools.
But he claimed that after learning that the family had a “long held goal” to flee Ukraine that predated Russia’s invasion, he was “surprised.”
He asserted that they had previously visited Spain for vacation and looked into potential neighbourhoods, saying they “seemed to be more economic migrants than real refugees.”
The parents, according to Reverend Blake, told him the conflict had provided them with the “ideal opportunity to realise their dream of leaving Ukraine.”
The archbishop, who in 2017 was convicted of violating a restraining order after sharing “abusive” messages online, continued by saying that the family lacked “thanks” and abruptly left when he was assisting them in looking for a rental house.
Around 75,000 refugees who were leaving their homes entered the UK through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, which was introduced in March.
When joining up for the programme, sponsors had to commit to a minimum of six months, but the cost of living problem has caused more than a third of Britons to now be “struggling financially” because of the growing expenses of bills, fuel, and the weekly grocery purchase.
Government data also revealed that 145 placements resulted in the refugee losing their house because of the breakdown of their connection with their sponsor or because the housing was considered “unsuitable” before they had even moved in.
The number of hosts who no longer wish to continue sheltering their refugees has now caused councils to express their worry.
“When Russia started the war against Ukraine, we were fast to offer help to the fleeing Ukrainians, registering with national refugee agencies and on international web sites our desire to grant asylum,” Mr. Blake said in his 2,000-word essay.
We received a lot of calls and emails. It was difficult to determine if we should and could help them given the circumstances.
Four examples of families who approached the archbishop were provided.
One of them, he claimed, was a woman from Ukraine who needed someone to “home her old and infirm mother and carer.”
Further questioning revealed she “lived in America and could have herself housed her mother, but was looking for someone else to take on the responsibility,” he claimed.
He claimed that two Ukrainian women then got in touch with his family to ask if they could give them and their four children “short-term” housing.
However, it was also stated that “on further inquiry we discovered they were already safely in England” through the Homes for Ukraine programme.
On May 24, when the family did finally arrive, he wrote: “We spent £2,500 getting the house ready for them, including decorating, beds and bedding, play equipment, and garden supplies.
“Within four weeks we had the family registered with the neighbourhood dentist and general practitioner, outfitted with bank accounts and U.K. mobile phone numbers, enrolled in English language classes, interviewed for Universal Credit, processed with their biometrics, and each child accepted into the neighborhood’s top schools and outfitted with uniforms.”
He claimed that the family had transformed his house into a “magical environment,” complete with a swimming pool for the kids.
Nevertheless, Mr. Blake continued, “We were surprised in the first weeks to discover that it had been their long-held intention to leave Ukraine and seek a better life in Europe.
They had already started the preparation process by taking vacations in Spain, starting to learn the language, and researching potential locations and opportunities. It appeared that they were less real refugees and more economic migrants.
“Their kin and pals stayed in Ukraine.” Their elder kids were particularly irritated by this.
They were allegedly brought across the border without their consent and given the impression that they were visiting their grandparents when the decision to leave Ukraine was actually made without consulting them.
They felt betrayed by their parents for making them leave their homes, schools, and friends behind.
“We were told that the parents had the ideal opportunity to realise their dream because of the war and the opportunities to go to European nations.
They had gotten a property for free right away and had departed right away for Slovakia.
They discovered that the substantial Homes for Ukrainians programme the UK was offering gave them a special opportunity to integrate into the country.
Another peculiar aspect that became apparent over the course of the weeks was that, regardless of what we offered, what we did, or how creative, considerate, or thoughtful we were, we hardly ever, if ever, heard a “thank you.”
“Thanksgiving was not expressed. Although we didn’t want it for ourselves, its absence was a peculiar indicator.
The archbishop claimed that despite their six-month stay coming to an end, he continued to assist the family in getting ready to begin looking for rental homes.
The father allegedly had access to “a pick of rental properties” thanks to his job in West London and “second income.”
The churchman, however, asserted that on August 4, he received a call from his council informing him that the family had been evicted and was now sleeping in their car.
I stressed that this was wrong; we had not evicted them, would never evict them, and were dedicated to having them stay with us for however long was required, until they got their own housing, the man wrote.
I then thought back to what the father had said to me. that a strategy was being developed. He refused to answer my question about what it was.
“One of my boys hurried up to their rooms and was shocked to see that all of their belongings had been gone, and that their rooms had been left filthy with soiled bedding.
They had loaded up their belongings into the car while we were away and driven to the council to declare themselves homeless in the hopes that they would be given a place to live.
“We were stunned. They had not spoken to us at all. There was no farewell exchanged. They had not expressed gratitude. They had just moved out.
He asserted that the family sought housing in West London after learning they would not receive housing from the council because they had “deliberately made themselves homeless.”
This is the last he has heard of them, he claimed.
It follows complaints about strained relationships from Britons who hosted families under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Clara Maguire, a British mother from Poole, Dorset, who welcomed two Ukrainians into her home, claimed she felt “completely used and disrespected” and has promised to “never again” participate in the programme.
One of an increasing number of Britons who have left the programme as a result of a breakdown in ties with their displaced visitors is Clara Maguire, 54, of Poole, Dorset.
Many people have yet to get a dime of the monthly £350 payments promised by the government, nearly six months after Vladimir Putin’s tanks crossed the border, while others said they had been “duped” by “non-vulnerable” Ukrainians.
Ludmila Zosym, a 44-year-old mother from Kiev, has refuted some of the charges, claiming that it is the British presenters who lack empathy because they have never fled a war.
A trauma charity concurred, urging better access to treatments for migrants and increased mental health education for hosts to prevent further load on the NHS.
After placing his sons on the roof of his house in 2009 so they could complete an assignment for a school competition to read a book in an unusual location, Mr. Blake was jailed for child cruelty.
Shocked neighbours saw Dominic, then seven, and Nathan, then eight, both serenely reading Michael Lawrence’s The Killer Underpants while perched on the chimney stack.
Instead of calling the fire department to save them, their father was happily snapping pictures to enter them in their primary school’s book week competition.
After being found guilty of violating a restraining order, Mr. Blake was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and had to pay £1,000 in costs in 2017.
He had repeatedly sent abusive communications to the two complainants during the course of his harassment.
On May 1, 2015, they reported the harassment to the police because, according to the police, he disregarded their repeated demands to cease contacting them.
On December 9, 2015, Mr. Blake received a restraining order from Bromley Magistrates’ Court, but he violated it.
He was originally detained on March 4, 2016, for violating the order, and then charged on June 17, 2016.
But Mr. Blake, of Welling, Kent, persisted in flouting the restraining order, and on July 28, 2016, he was apprehended once more. Later that day, he was charged.
On Monday, February 13, Mr. Blake was convicted guilty of four charges of violating a restraining order at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
In 1994, Mr. Blake left the Church of England to found the Open Episcopal Church while working as a vicar in Kent.
In 2001, he performed the first live gay wedding on ITV’s This Morning programme, which was hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.
He officiated at Jade Goody’s wedding and led prayers at her wake after she passed away. He was also the priest at her wedding.