According to UNHCR, as of 15 November 2022, more than 7.8 million people have fled Ukraine, arriving primarily in EU neighbouring countries. Two new EMN informs look at how Member States have responded to influx of people in the area of accommodation and housing as well access to social benefits, education, employment, and healthcare in the context of the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) (2001/55/EC).
As a follow-up to the inform on the scope of the Temporary Protection Directive and registration process, the EMN published two other informs that map access to housing and services for temporary protection holders.
According to the findings of the inform Arrangements for accommodation and housing for beneficiaries of temporary protection, most Member States use a combination of different forms of accommodation to host people fleeing Ukraine, e.g. reception centres, hotels or hostels, used mostly for emergency situations, and private homes. Private households also played a very important role in responding to the need to accommodate displaced people in the first months of the conflict due to a limited housing capacity of many Member States.
Article 13(1) of the TPD stipulates that, if necessary, persons enjoying temporary protection should receive the means to obtain housing. Duration and amount of this financial support vary from one Member State to another, but in general, it is based on the number of persons accommodated and entails lower rates for children. The financial allowance is given either directly to the beneficiaries of temporary protection in case they do not live in reception centres, to local and municipal institutions, or to private households hosting beneficiaries.
Member States identified the need to allow beneficiaries of temporary protection access to labour as a priority. According to the findings of the inform Access to services for beneficiaries of temporary protection several Member States have offered a wide range of services including counselling, language courses, vocational training, and childcare. They also launched various information campaigns and job search portals for both beneficiaries of temporary protection and employers.
Article 14(1) of the TPD requires Member States to grant all persons under 18 years of age entitled to temporary protection access to the education system under the same conditions as their own nationals. To ensure this, many Member States allocated funds for the opening of additional classes and supplementary language courses. A special emphasis was also placed on simplifying the processes of access to schools, e.g. in the case of missing documents certifying the degree of education. Access to higher institutions, such as universities, is not guaranteed in most Member States, mainly because the entry process is run by the universities themselves.
Access to the health care, which is guaranteed by Article 13 (2) of the TPD, is also critically important. In several Member States, beneficiaries of temporary protection have full access to the public healthcare system on equal terms with nationals. In other countries, they have access to emergency medical services. All Member States reported that beneficiaries of temporary protection were granted access to mental healthcare.