Killin residents have been asked to open up their homes for Ukrainian refugees after the Scottish Government unexpectedly cancelled a contract with the village hotel.
Killin Hotel has accommodated 60 refugees from Ukraine since the summer, after the conflict with Russia began.
Residents had been led to believe they would be permitted to stay there until March 2023.
But the Scottish Government, which is sponsoring the settlement scheme, has now said they have to be out by November 18.
The sudden decision has led to a scramble for alternative homes amid fears of a key-worker crisis in Killin.
Airbnb owners wanted
At least 15 of the Ukrainians have found jobs in the village.
And with Killin one of many rural villages experiencing a lack of affordable housing, there are concerns that the new staff may be forced to leave for urban areas.
Cllr Andy Aitken, chairman of Killin Community Council, says that since the first Covid lockdown the village’s popularity has exploded.
Homes are being purchased swiftly by those who can work from home, rent it out as a holiday property or as a short-term Airbnb let.
He is appealing for some of these owners to house a refugee.
“People in the local area could come forward and provide either sponsored accommodation rented accommodation,” Cllr Aitken said.
“That would be brilliant.
“This could be people who have Airbnbs and think they could do with a break for six months because there are no takers at this time of year.
“The letting thing is very feasible because 15 or so of them have jobs in the local area so they could rent at standard letting rates.”
‘We were planning to stay in Scotland’
Lindmyla Tukalevska is one such refugee who was shocked to discover she had to leave Killin Hotel next month.
She was working as a speech therapist at a hospital near Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine, when the conflict began.
It is a very nice place for us, for children. It is very quiet and we have friends here.
Lindmyla, 38, and her daughter, 12, moved away from her father and husband for 17 years, who both stayed in Ukraine to help with the war effort.
After a spell in Edinburgh she moved to Killin Hotel on July 7. She was joined by her cousin and their children.
Three weeks into her stay she got a job as a carer at the Falls of Dochart Retirement Home in the village.
Lindmyla said: “I really enjoy my job because it’s a nice place with nice, kind people.
“It is a very nice place for us, for children. It is very quiet and we have friends here.
“When we came we knew we weren’t staying for a long time but that we would have had time to look for somewhere to stay.
“After March we were planning to stay in Scotland, though if the war finishes we go home.
“We want to find a place to rent and stay in Killin.”
Loss of three workers ‘ catastrophic’
Lindmyla and her cousin both work at the retirement home and, fortunately, each has found a sponsor to accommodate them.
But there is another Ukrainian member of staff who has not yet been so lucky.
Mandy Hay, who manages the care home. “It is still unsettling for Lindmyla because she still doesn’t know where her future lies.”
The facility is operated by Killin Care Trust, whose director Neil Campbell said: “They’re actually key workers within the home.
“They are doing a very good job for us. For us to lose three workers at this stage would be catastrophic and it would be very difficult for us to find people in the care industry to come to a rural location.
“Now we have these three girls we train them, we pay them and want to keep them so the government needs to give them more time to find accommodation or assistance with accommodation.”
‘Appalling’ treatment of refugees
Phil Simpson, chairman of Killin Care Trust, said: “We are all hurting and indignant on behalf of our Ukrainian friends.
“They have been treated appallingly by being given short notice to leave the hotel, possibly their jobs and uproot children from school.
“This is not the action of the hotelier but of decision makers higher up.
“It is not the care of refugees fleeing a war zone that is trumpeted from government, it is cynical treatment of real but fragile people as pawns to be moved hither and thither on a whim.”
Majority ‘wanted to leave village’
A government spokesperson said many of the hotel’s refugees have been offered accommodation in Stirling because the majority of those housed in Killin wanted to move to a more central location.
Neil Gray, the minister responsible for Refugees from Ukraine, said: “We also recognise that some people want to stay in Killin, especially those in employment or with children settled at school.
“We will work with the local authority and the people in Killin to help them stay in the area whilst we support them to find long-term sustainable accommodation.”
Conversation