Council set to green-light homes for Afghan refugees

Boston Borough Council will need to find more than £670,000 in capital to fund the project

Boston Borough Council is set to give the go-ahead to plans to accommodate four refugee Afghan families in town, as part of a £1.1m newbuild scheme.

Costing between £1,084,920 and £1,142,700, the five-home project is part-financed by the government, who will provide a grant of £471,950.

The council says the properties could be used as temporary accommodation for homeless families in the longer term.

Thousands fled Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Those Afghans who helped British and US armed forces have since been offered refuge by the UK government. The Boston housing scheme is part of the council's continuing commitment to support them.

Four properties will be reserved for Afghan households, while the outstanding property will be used as general, temporary accommodation by the council to meet wider housing needs.

"For the purposes of clarity, the scheme is not aimed at households who have arrived in the UK illegally, outside of government-sponsored resettlement schemes," the council report states.

The council will need to contribute up to £670,750 from its own coffers, if the project is agreed by council leaders at a meeting on Wednesday.

The homes would be made available to the families by end of March 2024.

Once the properties are vacated by the Afghan families, the homes will then be made available for other local homeless families needing temporary accommodation, the council says - potentially reducing further council costs.

"The scheme will provide housing that the council can utilise for other needs over the longer term... which has the potential to bring about cost avoidance benefits for the council," the report concludes.

Boston Borough Council has previously agreed a £1.6m scheme to build eight homes for seven Ukrainian refugee families and one Afghan refugee family.