Twice as expensive as hosting “classic” refugees. The Court of Auditors estimated, this Tuesday, February 28, that the reception of Ukrainian refugees last year cost France around 630 million euros. Most of this expenditure consists of the allowance paid to these displaced persons (218.46 million euros) and accommodation (253.27 million euros). The Court of Auditors has also noted a significant additional cost, which is mainly “the urgency” in which this reception had to be organized.
Also, the nearly 115,000 displaced Ukrainians who have arrived in France over the past year have been received in “satisfactory conditions”, thanks to the unprecedented “temporary protection” regime which has allowed them to settle freely while benefiting from a salvo unprecedented social rights: access to work, health services, schooling for children, emergency accommodation…
“This responsiveness was not without a price,” the financial jurisdiction wrote in a flash audit report released Tuesday. “The total expenditure incurred by the State and Social Security for the temporary protection of Ukrainians is expected to amount to approximately 634 million euros for the year 2022.”
Thus, the “unit cost” for a Ukrainian was in 2022 “almost double that of the schemes offered to traditional asylum seekers”, the Court pointed out. In detail, for accommodation, “the cost per place and per day amounted to 38 euros on average nationally, where sheltering under common law […] is on average less than 20 euros and (lower) than 18 euros in the national reception system for asylum seekers,” she continued.
The administrative authority also recommended “better supervision of citizen accommodation”, on which, according to it, 40% of the weight of reception weighs. Since the end of 2022, nearly 900 homes hosting displaced Ukrainians have received financial aid from the State, around 150 euros per month, which represented an envelope of some 786,000 euros, had indicated last week to Agence France- Press (AFP) the Ministry of Housing. Problem, the Court held, “the ability to maintain compensation” is “not guaranteed.”
