Three families from Afghanistan will be housed in Welwyn Hatfield following the Taliban seizing control of the capital Kabul and installing a new government.
The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was announced in December 2020, ahead of the withdrawal of British Forces from the country to ensure those who assisted the army and face risk to life would be able to apply for resettlement.
The scheme, launched on April 1, is intended to run indefinitely and the Home Office say that since June 22, 2,000 former Afghan staff and their families have been resettled in the UK.
It is separate from today’s (August 18) announcement from the Prime Minister that the UK will resettle 20,000 refugees from the country over the next five years.
Welwyn Hatfield, Dacorum and Three Rivers have all confirmed that they will be participating in the scheme, with the first family arriving last week.
Welwyn Hatfield backed the plans at a meeting of the Cabinet on August 10, with an expectation of helping a maximum of three families with a two-bedroom need.
Council leader Tony Kingsbury told the Cabinet: “We need to support these people, they’ve supported us as well so absolutely. I think it’s a good news story from that point of view and we should be supporting it, and we are.”
Hertsmere Borough Council said that they are unable to commit to participating in the scheme, as they do not own housing stock and have several hundred people already on their housing register.
Around 200 individuals are currently being accommodated in two hotels within the borough, as they wait for a home to become available.
A Hertsmere Borough Council spokesperson said: “Some families have needed to be accommodated on a temporary basis whilst they wait for their new home to become available.
“The Home Office has decided the best solution is to use hotels during this time. Those hotels are spread across the country and two hotels in our borough are being used for this scheme, with in the region of 200 individuals having been accommodated there under this scheme.
"We are proactively liaising with the Home Office to provide what assistance we can."
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