More than 50,000 Ukrainians fleeing war have arrived in Lithuania so far. Most of the refugees are staying with Lithuanians, who welcomed them into their homes. But as the war has entered its third month, options for accommodating foreigners are running out, while the state makes little contribution to improving the situation.
When the first Ukrainian refugees arrived in Lithuania, the government relied on public initiatives to house the arrivals. According to the number of apartments and houses registered through the NGO Strong Together (Stiprūs Kartu), Lithuanian people could accommodate around 30,000 Ukrainian families.
For those who have opened their homes to the Ukrainian refugees, the Lithuanian government decided to pay cash incentives of 150 euros for one person and 50 euros for each additional person. This compensation is paid from the second month of accommodating Ukrainians and for a maximum of three months, hoping that the foreign nationals would find work during this period.
But so far, only around one in three Ukrainian refugees have found a job in Lithuania, while the three-month period of financial aid is coming to an end for the first arrivals.
Read more: One in three Ukrainian refugees found jobs in Lithuania – ministry
“Our citizens have undertaken to accommodate Ukrainians not for the whole war period but up to a few months. That period is coming to an end. Ukrainians need to be accommodated somewhere else, and it is very difficult to get people back to our registration centres for secondary accommodation,” said Luka Lesauskaitė, the communications manager of the Red Cross in Lithuania.
According to the Social Affairs and Labour Minister Monika Navickienė, the Lithuanian government is planning to extend the payment of compensations for those who have housed Ukrainians in their homes. Municipalities could also take care of refugees’ accommodation if needed.
“In total, there are currently around 4,000 places in municipalities that are ready for accommodation,” Navickienė said. “These are properties that belong either to the municipalities or institutions under the authority of ministries. There are also additional buildings that could also be used for accommodation after some investment if the volumes [of refugees] change.”
But according to the Red Cross representatives, municipal premises offered to the refugees are usually not well-prepared for comfortable living.
“We see and the Ukrainians see that some of the premises, for example, have no furniture, no hot water, or the electrical wiring is not in order,” Lesauskaitė said.
Some municipalities point out that the state is not contributing to the repairs of such premises. Meanwhile, others say that they do not have spare buildings to house refugees, while the government is not willing to give up the ones it owns.
“We don’t have any closed schools. We have nowhere to accommodate [refugees] as a municipality. That’s why only our residents accommodate them,” said Deputy Mayor of Druskininkai Linas Urmanavičius.
“The interior ministry has Dainava sanatorium [in Druskininkai], which it could certainly use [...]. But as far as I know, there are no Ukrainians there,” he added.
According to Palanga Mayor Šarūnas Vaitkus, the municipality has also asked the health ministry, which owns the sanatorium Palangos Gintaras, as well as the interior ministry, which has the holiday home Pušynas in Palanga, to allocate these premises to Ukrainian refugees.
The interior ministry said the European Commission has earmarked 17 billion euros in support for countries hosting Ukrainian refugees. However, the distribution mechanism has not been confirmed yet, and it is unclear when the funds will reach the countries in question.
Read more: With holiday season approaching, Ukrainian refugees to lose housing in Lithuanian resorts
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