Thread by @tanjamaier17

I asked my Ukrainian Telegram chat (more than 1500 participants now) what they would tell Austria’s refugee coordinator, as I have been invited to meet him today. Their responses are of course miles better and more structured than my scribbled list of bullet points. 🧵

School is a big topic now: what Austria offers (mixed age class of 🇺🇦 kids learning German together) isn’t sufficient academically but is time consuming so kids have a hard time doing Ukraine online school too. Money for school supplies. Money for lunch and afternoon supervision.

Housing (lack thereof or rather restricted access?) remains a huge problem, many look for new housing now, stress over what happens with public transport after Sept 30. Without being able to work those on Grundversorgung cannot afford tickets.

Lack of access to the labor market and the restrictions of Grundversorgung make it impossible to get ahead financially. What is paid out is barely enough (not enough) to survive. Ukrainians want to work. I hear it over and over. But then many would become immediately homeless…

Specifically about the federal BBU dorm on Geiselbergstrasse, which is by design supposed to be temporary. In practice people stay longer. The newly homeless category will grow this fall as Austrian hosts say time is up and refugees have no means of renting private accommodation.

Lack of psychological support resources in Ukrainian & Russian languages. 100% agree with this. I know a psychologist who tried for months to help and get a job, gave up, went back to Kyiv. A damn shame. I see and hear the stress everywhere. It’s getting worse.

Many people rightly suggest a bridge period of 3-6 months to stay on benefits (Grundversorgung) while working a job so as to save up some money and not live in fear of being fired and then also immediately off minimal benefits. We have an employment crisis! We have workers!

From a mom of several kids in Carinthia. They made train/bus travel paid already for Ukrainians and this is biting families hard. They have not yet received Familienbeihilfe and Klimabonus will only be in 2023. Impossible frankly to survive without private aid.

Re the cost of public transport. Notice a trend here folks? I said it in the spring and I’ll say it again: money money money. Keeping refugees in poverty and out of work is a policy choice which results in many more headaches along the way.

Did I mention how much I love the Ukrainian people despite my phone buzzing day and night? This warmth. We could use so much more if it here.

School. A mixed age class of only Ukrainian kids only doing basic German is not a replacement for normal Ukrainian school or integration in an Austrian classroom. It is a non-solution.

When half of the school day actually costs money in Austria which refugees cannot afford. This is being subsidized in Wien I think, but not everywhere:

Very good summary here. Notice it starts with thank you. But these are excellent concrete suggestions:

Here is the math plain and simple of how Austria makes it a disincentive to work as a refugee:

I am getting the feeling the bottleneck in Wien is created on purpose to discourage refugees from coming here. The rest of Austria isn’t picking up the slack either. Result? Housing crisis.

When you are existing but not living. This single mom moved with her young child from Wien to Upper Austria now I’m sure regrets that decision: less money and resources to live on. Fewer job chances. Fewer kindergarten spots.