BRADFORD Council will be given funding to help house refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.

And the homes will eventually be used as social housing for Bradford residents.

A meeting of Council bosses heard the new scheme will help reduce the requirement to house refugees in hotels, and provide a more permanent home for Ukrainian refugees who have been welcomed into local homes.

Bradford is one of many areas in the UK to be chosen to take part in the Government funded Local Authority Housing Fund Initiative.

The Government is making funding available for Councils to buy a limited number of houses to accommodate Ukrainian and Afghan households who are already in the area after fleeing war and persecution and coming to the country through official means.

When the scheme ends – likely in three years’ time, the homes will be added to the Council’s affordable housing stock in order to meet local housing need.

The decision to move ahead with the scheme was approved by Bradford Council’s Executive on Tuesday.

Details of how much funding the Council is getting for its involvement was kept confidential – but the Council is expected to pay up to 60 per cent of the cost of the homes.

A report to the Executive said the scheme was introduced by Government to ensure areas that have welcomed refugees “are not disadvantaged by increased pressures from these arrivals on the existing housing and homelessness systems.”

The report says: “It is intended that those accommodated will pay affordable housing rents for the duration of their limited tenancies. They will pay via income or eligibility for benefit.

“At the conclusion of the re-settlement scheme, the dwellings will be vacated and incorporated into the council’s general needs housing stock, to be allocated to those in need of affordable rented accommodation.

“As a result, as well as helping to fulfil the UK’s humanitarian duties to assist those fleeing war, the fund will create a lasting legacy for UK nationals by providing an additional supply of accommodation for local authorities to help address local housing and homelessness pressures.”

At the Executive Alan Lunt said: “It will reduce the requirement for temporary hotel accommodation and, in the longer term, assist with our local housing need.”

He said the Council will aim to purchase “off the shelf units” being developed by housing providers, and the homes will be purchased in areas across the District.

Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, Executive for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “People have shown incredible generosity in providing rooms for Ukrainian refugees. But as these conflicts unfortunately continue we need a longer term solution.”