Georgian NGOs try to provide housing for refugees from Ukraine

Now, they are registering the refugees from Ukraine, evicted from hotels in Tbilisi and in need of housing; Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have reported. Some refugees have already been registered in the programme.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since August 1, the Tbilisi Mayoralty has stopped accommodating Ukrainian refugees in hotels, since the government has assigned cash benefits to them. The end of the programme sparked opposition's criticism, who stated that it was impossible to rent housing in Tbilisi for the allocated money, and called on citizens to help refugees.

"With the help of active townspeople, we managed to temporarily settle some of the Ukrainians evicted from hotels. However, until the end of the year, housing for thousands of citizens is in question," said Keti Khutsishvili, an activist of the "Open Society" Fund.

According to her story, since August 2, Ukrainian citizens in need of housing have been registered. Only in the morning on August 7, a total of 300 of them filled out questionnaires.

To provide housing for Ukrainians, the Fund has allocated about USD 55,000, to which citizens' donations are added.

A refugee from Mariupol arrived in early March; the Mayoralty placed him with his family in a hotel in Tbilisi.

"There were excellent conditions there; we were provided with excellent three meals a day. But in July, we learned that this programme was ending ... Volunteers from the Nino Katamadze Fund rented an apartment for me and my wife, where we moved on July 16. But we have already prepared documents for immigration to Canada, and we leave in 10 days. We are grateful to the Georgian people, but it's time to move on," he said.