Dundee City council has revealed plans to support Afghan refugees.
The city has agreed to offer housing and financial support to those fleeing the war-torn country.
As part of an urgent plea from the Home Office, Dundee Council agreed to help support with the resettlement Afghan refugees earlier this month, following the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The scheme aims to settle 20,000 Afghan refugees across the UK over the next five years.
A team of organisations in Dundee will help find housing for the refugees in the local private rented sector and will offer financial support as well as offering English speaking lessons.
Councillors were updated on the proposals at a committee meeting on Monday night.
David Simpson, Dundee’s head of housing and community, said: “We are comfortable in where we are and in our belief that we can provide a good support scheme.
“We aren’t playing a numbers game or trying to hit any sort of quota.
“I feel we’re in a very positive position to be able to move forward with our involvement in this scheme.”
Dundee showing ‘can-do attitude’
Council leader John Alexander said he was happy to hear the update on the resettlement scheme, adding: “We are already seeing community mobilisation across Dundee to help refugees from Afghanistan and that enthusiasm shows how much of a caring city we are.
“We have a strong and established partnership that has already welcomed and integrated refugees from Syria over the last five years.
“There is a real can-do attitude among our organisations and projects to help people whose lives have been devastated by catastrophic events like the ongoing situation in Syria and now the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
“We have achieved remarkable success stories and we can be proud of the way the city has taken these people in and protected them.
“There will be a similar response to this latest call and all of us will be looking for our city to assist people from Afghanistan who arrive here.”
The proposals will be funded by the UK Government, which will include housing fees as well as financial support, for up to one year after resettlement.
