Boston Borough Council agrees to house Afghan refugees

Boston Borough Council will need to contribute £670,000 to fund the project

Boston Borough Council has agreed to accommodate refugee Afghan families as part of a government scheme.

Councillors voted on Wednesday evening to accept a £471,950 Home Office grant to make five properties available for the project, which is expected to cost up to £1.14m.

The council said 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 armed forces have since been offered refuge under the UK government's Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.

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

The homes are to be made available by end of March 2024 to Afghan families until their visas expire in three to five years' time.

During the meeting, councillor John Baxter said the initiative was "a fantastic opportunity financially and from a moral point of view".

He said the authority would need to contribute up to £670,750 from its own coffers towards the project.

But once the properties were vacated by the Afghan families, the homes would then be made available for other local homeless families needing temporary accommodation, he said.