Accommodation Welfare Network

There are currently over 950 contracts for State provided emergency accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) from Ukraine, with widespread concerns over welfare, safeguarding, and standards of accommodation and care of residents.

Through our Accommodation Welfare project, we track and escalate accommodation and welfare related issues. We also provide supports to a network of local organisations that are in direct contact with residents and/or accommodation providers. There are over 70 organisations in the network, including local development companies, family resource centres, migrant support organisations, and others.

There are four strands to our work:

• Escalation of issues that cannot be resolved locally.

Local organisations are encouraged to try to resolve issues locally, including escalation to the local Community Response Forum or relevant agency (Tusla, HSE, etc.). If no resolution is found, the issue can be notified to our welfare reporting email, accomwelfare@doras.org. We can escalate it to the Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team (UCTAT) at the Department (DCEDIY), after discussing with the person/ organisation reporting.

• Building the capacity of local organisations to take a proactive approach to safeguarding the welfare of Ukrainians in congregated settings.

While many local organisations have the experience and resources to support BOTPs, there are gaps in the engagement with people in self-service or serviced accommodation. Our goal is to ensure that every centre has a local organisation that’s in touch with the residents there.

We are available to provide information, resources, and assistance to organisations that need them. Our welfare coordinator can meet (in person or via Zoom) with organisations or groups that have concerns about specific centres and/ or need advice on how best to respond to these.

• Building an evidence base to track standards in emergency accommodation settings.

Anyone who is familiar with a centre is encouraged to complete an emergency accommodation report describing conditions and service delivery there. This will enable us to report on trends and general concerns.

• Working to ensure that consistent standards are set and maintained in relation to the welfare of Ukrainian refugees living in congregated settings.

There are currently no standards in operation for emergency accommodation provided to BOTPs. We have developed a checklist that can be used by local organisations, centre management and residents. The aim is to ensure that basic needs are met, that staff are adequately trained, and that the necessary supports and services are available.

Download a copy of the checklist here.

Issues relating to accommodation for international protection applicants can also be logged using the accommodation report form or email accomwelfare@doras.org with your queries.