Three months have passed since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Since then, around 5,000 refugees have officially arrived in Luxembourg, with many of them being taken in by host families.
But it appears that an increasing number of host families are reaching their limits, a problem which is also affecting the work of Caritas and the Luxembourg Red Cross. The two organisations have organised the accommodation of 500 refugees in private homes.
Around 1,500 offers arrived in the first weeks after the war began from private persons who wished to accommodate Ukrainians in their homes.
Marc Josse, head of the Red Cross LISKO integration centre, explains more and more families contact the organisation for support. Many request the intervention of a professional to improve communication with the family at home, according to Josse.
The Red Cross admits that some host families “partially underestimated the resources, obligations, and the complexity involved in the private accommodation of another culture”.
Conflicts arise particularly often “during mealtime or because of pets brought in by the refugee family”. Josse also points out that the Ukrainian families who arrive in Luxembourg need calm and stability, explaining that they “often don’t want to actively participate in the social life outside or with another family”.
But the host families are not the only ones who seek help with cohabitation issues. The refugees themselves also frequently express their desire to find a different accommodation.
According to Marc Crochet, Director General of Caritas, there have been instances where foreign applicants acknowledged that while they “don’t get along” with their host family, they are still satisfied with the model as a whole and would just like to move in with another family.
On the other hand, Caritas is also aware of “quite a few” situations of persons who no longer want to live with host families at all. Crochet notes that they frequently claim that the model “doesn’t work” for them, and that they were unaware that there were also homes where they could live with other Ukrainians.
This is not very surprising, according to the Director General of Caritas. About half of the refugees who arrive in Luxembourg prefer to live in homes. Crochet states that this is why many residents who volunteered to house Ukrainian families have yet to be contacted.
“It’s not because we haven’t suggested it to them,” Crochet explains, but many refugees went to a home when they arrived and met people who are in the same situation as them.
According to the Director General of Caritas, many refugees “want to stay close to sources of information and to their compatriots”. Crochet added that “they want to be able to speak their language, even if they don’t live in luxury”.
Most Ukrainians do not plan to stay in Luxembourg and want to return home as soon as possible. Nevertheless, Crochet confirms that many people in Luxembourg “want to continue to help”. The current inflation and the obligation to bear a large part of the housing costs, however, risks inciting further conflicts, according to Caritas, which calls on the state to introduce financial aid.
The full report by RTL Télé (in Luxembourgish and French):
