Rosemary Duckett, 80, a retired magistrate and former chair of her local YMCA, and her husband, Anthony, 88, have been providing accommodation in a room above their garage to Ukrainian refugees since 2022. The couple were dismayed when the council recently told them they could no longer use the room, which has a small bathroom attached, to provide somewhere for Ukrainians to live without applying for a change of use for the room, at a cost of 600-800.
More than 300 million pounds allocated to English councils for Ukrainian refugee accommodation remains unspent, while many face homelessness. This funds roughly a third of the one billion pound budget.
I realized that without speaking English or Spanish, there was little she could do here. At some point, he asked if she could bake. When she responded, of course I can, adding, every girl in Ukraine can, it was Zabelin's lightbulb moment.