A refugee from Ukraine looks at her mobile phone on March 9, 2022 in front of the Myslivna hotel in Brno, where she is staying.
Prague – The payment of a solidarity allowance for people who accommodate refugees for free or in exchange for energy is to be extended by a quarter of a year. The support should thus be provided until the end of June. The rules for obtaining it and its amount should not change. Regulationthe government is going to approve the extension of support on Wednesday. The Ministry of Labor calculated the expenses for a quarter of a year for accommodation of 48,000 arrivals at half a billion crowns. Labor offices have started verifying applications due to possible suspicion of fraud, many applicants have to go to branches with documents.
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According to the Ministry of Labor, due to the continuation of the war in Ukraine, there is still a need to accommodate new arrivals. The resort points out in the documents for the regulation the convenience of living in households. He mentions the facilitation of the adaptation and integration of refugees, their dispersion across the country, as well as the reduction of budget expenditures for the provision of mass accommodation.
The solidarity contribution was introduced last year by the so-called lex Ukraine, the setting of the support is adjusted by the government in a regulation. The benefit can be requested for accommodation with space for rest, food preparation and personal hygiene, with a toilet and access to drinking water. The state contributes to the costs of accommodation providers for free housing for at least 16 days a month. It sends 5,000 crowns for one refugee accommodated in a separate apartment, 9,000 crowns for two, 12,000 crowns for three, 14,000 crowns for four and 15,000 crowns for five or more people. If people have newcomers at their home, they can receive 3,000 crowns per month per accommodated person. They can receive a maximum of 9,000 crowns per month. Support is also available for accommodation providers where refugees pay for gas and electricity.
According to the ministry, when housing 48,000 people, 167 million crowns will be paid per month, and 501 million crowns per quarter. For the first two months of this year, according to departmental data, expenses amounted to 417 million crowns. From last spring to the end of February this year, it was over two billion crowns. In January, the employment offices provided 23,200 benefits, in February one hundred fewer.
Contributions are processed online only. A number of applications are now rejected by the employment offices, and applicants must bring documents of accommodation or flats to the branches when prompted. The reason is the suspicion of possible fraud. The trade unions pointed to the possible abuse of digitized benefits and insufficient control. Economic newspaperthey recently wrote that the labor office paid out over 600,000 crowns to a group of applicants with one joint account, and the Ministry of Labor suspended the system. The spokeswoman for the ministry, Eva Davidová, then told ČTK that the payment of support has not been stopped, it is only being verified.
The provision of refugees is to be amended from July by an amendment to the lex Ukraine law. The solidarity contribution would be paid only to those who received the newcomers at their home. Refugees would pay for a separate apartment themselves. In the support from the state, their eligible housing costs, which should be determined by the government, would be taken into account. Income from employment in the Czech Republic should be assessed. Labor Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) recently said that the normal benefit system should be opened to refugees from January.
The government is going to extend the rules for emergency accommodation of refugees by a year
On Wednesday, the government plans to extend the validity of the rules for the emergency accommodation of war refugees from Ukraine by one year. It regulates the regulation, which should be approved by the cabinet. It should be valid until the end of March next year. Until then, the temporary protection of arrivals in the Czech Republic and other EU countries should last.
The state provides contributions for emergency accommodation of refugees in hostels, boarding houses or hotels. He sends 300 crowns per person per day to regional or municipal facilities. It pays 350 crowns to other operators. The current regulation is valid until the end of March. According to the Ministry of the Interior, if the government did not extend the validity, from April there would be no rules for the accommodation of refugees. This would concern, for example, the reimbursement of compensation per person and night in the facility.
According to the law, the government can set a flat-rate contribution, ranging from 200 to 350 crowns per person per day. Originally, the amounts were one hundred crowns lower than today, they rose last year from November. The reason was the increase in energy prices.
The Ministry of the Interior originally expected to spend about 3.5 to 4 billion crowns on emergency accommodation for this year, if the number of people accommodated remained the same. The resort reminds that expenses will be affected by a change in the setting of accommodation support. The rules should be amended by an amendment to the lex Ukraina law. According to the standard, the state will only pay for housing for refugees in hostels, boarding houses or other facilities for a limited period of time. After 150 days, i.e. five months, they should either start paying it themselves, or they would have to find another place to live. However, this does not apply to parents with small children, the disabled or the elderly.
According to the law, refugees should not stay in emergency accommodation for a long time. As a rule, they should not stay in accommodation facilities for more than three months and in gymnasiums, halls or similar places for no longer than a month, the standard assumes. According to migration experts, living in apartments is more suitable for integration, and it is also cheaper.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began last year on February 24. The Home Office has since issued nearly 497,700 protection visas to refugees. Most of the arrivals are women and children. People are renewing their registration now. They must apply for an extension of temporary protection in the Czech Republic by the end of March. Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN) stated a few days ago that 271,000 people have done this so far.
