Homes for Ukraine: Arrival Infrastructures and the UK's "New Bespokism"

Abstract

This article examines arrival infrastructures and arrival brokering practices emerging from the UK government's response to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. We focus on Homes for Ukraine, a private hosting scheme. The scheme is an example of the "new bespokism" that characterises the government's approach to asylum. It has given rise to new geographies of settlement against a background of a "brutal migration milieu" (Hall, 2017) and provides an interesting entry point to examine arrival infrastructures. Drawing on insights from place-based research on the policies and practices of the hosting scheme, we discuss how it has shaped the landscape of arrival infrastructures for a distinct group of newcomers in a London borough and Oxford/shire. Our research included interviews and multi-modal participatory ethnographic fieldwork with Ukrainians, as well as interviews with hosts, practitioners, and support workers. The article reflects on the role of hosts as "arrival brokers" and how the Homes for Ukraine scheme created a distinct arrival context and infrastructure with significant implications for the ability of Ukrainians to exercise agency in stark contrast to those within the UK asylum system. We reflect on the politics of the Ukraine schemes as a form of arrival infrastructure that facilitates certain forms of mobility while hindering other forms.