Without additional funding, Riga will be forced to discontinue relocating new Ukrainian refugees from 1 July onward, maintaining support for existing refugees only, said Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis at a press-conference on 28 June.
He stressed that due to unresponsiveness of ministries refugee accommodation is at risk, as is the continued operation of Ukrainian refugee support centre in Riga.
Riga’s mayor explained that from 1 July onward the aid provided by the Latvian state for refugee accommodation will be cut significantly.
State aid will be EUR 3.5 a day, and for Riga this is not enough.
Because of that, tourist accommodations will not longer be able to provide housing for refugees.
There are currently 1 800 Ukrainian refugees staying in tourist accommodations in Riga.
Staķis has ordered officials to contact tourist accommodations and inform them that the municipal administration will compensate the missing funding, and invite them not to terminate contracts for the provision of accommodation to refugees.
The municipal administration plans to spend EUR 450 000 on refugee accommodation costs. Money will be diverted from the reserve fund. It should be said that Riga has enough money to finance this for approximately two months.
The mayor of Riga also stressed that 16 600 refugees have arrived, which is 3 000 people more than what the national plan for refugees allows.
This means Riga will not take on more refugees if additional funding is provided.
As previously reported, at the start of June Latvia’s government agreed on extending the aid provided to Ukrainian civilians arriving in the country.
With amendments to the Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians it is planned to set an equal primary form of support – accommodation for all Ukrainian refugees – for a period of up to 120 days, but for no longer than 31 December 2022. Secondly, amendments are meant to make it so that private and legal persons would be able to receive compensation for providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugees for a period no longer than 120 days, but no longer than 31 December 2022.
Additionally, the legislative draft provides an option for Ukrainian refugees who are unable to secure accommodation to receive support after the 120-day period, but no longer than 31 December 2022.
Considering that for many Ukrainian refugees the accommodation period ended in June, it was necessary to provide these people and municipalities that organise refugee accommodation with legal predictability and stability in regards to the volume of support and the length of this support, the annotation to the legislative draft explains.
Amendments are intended to make it clear that the primary form of support – accommodation and catering – are to be terminated after 31 December 2022. It is also stated that accommodation for all Ukrainian refugees is to be provided for no longer than 31 December 2022. This means the right to receive accommodation is to be available to all Ukrainian refugees that will have arrived in Latvia between 24 February and 31 December 2022. As for catering – Ukrainian refugees that had signed up for it from 25 May onward will be provided with catering for a period of up to 30 days, but no longer than 31 December 2022.
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Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war approximately 32 000 Ukrainian refugees have left their homes and have ended up in Latvia as refugees, according to information from the Ministry of the Interior.