1 year later, finding home in N.L. still a challenge for some Ukrainians

Serhii Koretskyi has been living in a hotel room with his wife and four children ever since his family moved from Ukraine to St. John's in early December.

He says he's grateful his family is healthy and safe, but sharing a hotel room with five other people isn't always easy — he'd prefer living somewhere that has a dinner table, for instance, so his family can return to somewhat of a state of normalcy.

But the province's steep rise in the cost of living isn't lost on him. Despite working as a cabinet maker since February,  he doesn't have enough money to find a suitable house for his family.

On top of that, a new temporary accommodations policy that caps the amount of time Ukrainians are allowed to stay in government-funded hotel rooms makes the house hunting process feel ever more pertinent. 

"[There's] not enough housing," said Koretskyi. "It's difficult to find something. I don't want to live in hotel all the time. For me, it's terrible."

Tuesday marks one year since the first provincially chartered flight from Ukraine landed in Newfoundland and Labrador. About 166 Ukrainian refugees landed in St. John's that day, most of whom lived in hotels until they found more permanent housing.

Around three weeks ago, the province implemented a 45-day "temporary accommodations policy," meaning Ukrainian immigrants now have a limited amount of time in which they can live in a government-subsidized hotel.

In a statement to CBC News, the Association for New Canadians said the policy is aimed primarily at people who have enough money to pay for their own accommodations, and that the policy is a "guideline" — if someone needs to stay for an extended period of time, they can apply to do so.

"It works like this: if you moved into a hotel today, 45 days would bring you into June, but you would not have to be living elsewhere until the start of July," reads the statement. "We do this to be as accommodating as possible, as leases typically start at the beginning of the month."

"We will not leave anyone vulnerable," said Immigration, Population Growth and Skills Minister Gerry Byrne.

"We will take this on a case-by-case basis. If there are individuals who are just not ready or unable to move from temporary accommodations, we will respect that and work with them."

When Koretskyi received notice from the association about the 45-day policy, he said, he didn't feel too overwhelmed. It's certainly stressful trying to find a home in the province, he said, but it's incomparable to the devastation happening to his home country.

According to the ANC's data, said Byrne, there are now just over 2,700 Ukrainians living in Newfoundland and Labrador. Byrne says just over 1,100 of those individuals have found their own housing.

Byrne said he "understands and appreciates" Ukrainians' frustrations with the lack of affordable housing. However, he said, Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province aside from Manitoba that has offered Ukrainian immigrants temporary accommodations.