Ukrainian refugees are sent back to the Centre de Prio-accueil in Luxembourg

It’s a real “back to square one”, said Max*, who arrived in Luxembourg in August 2022.

Six months after the start of the Russian invasion, he fled the town of Poltava in central Ukraine, accompanied by his wife. Aged 59 and 67 respectively, Max and Anna* found refuge in the emergency shelter (SHUK) in Kirchberg. “We were happy to find shelter,” said Max in an interview.

Like the many Ukrainian refugees welcomed in the Grand Duchy in 2022, the couple have been granted temporary protection status. From SHUK, Max and Anna were transferred to the primary reception centre set up on Rue Tony Rollman in Kirchberg to cope with the large influx of refugees.

After just a few weeks, the couple were rehoused to a hotel in Dudelange, along with around 30 other refugees.

A problem without solution

Three-and-a-half years later, Max and Anna are still living in the same town in the south of Luxembourg. But for the past few weeks, they have been looking at the room provided free of charge by the Luxembourg Red Cross with a sinking feeling. “Our contract for the accommodation was extended twice, but it expired in March 2025. We are obliged to leave the accommodation,” Max said.

While he understands that they must leave, Max said no alternative solution had been offered. Despite holding a master’s degree in engineering, the 59-year-old is struggling to find a job, and is currently devoting himself to learning French, as well as taking courses on the European institutions at the University of Luxembourg. “The only advice I’ve been given verbally is to take an unskilled job and go back to the reception centre,” said the refugee from Ukraine.

For Max, this is out of the question. “All [my] efforts to integrate would be shattered” by returning to Kirchberg, he said. In addition, “my wife suffers from health problems and cannot go back to this ‘tent city’ where we are sometimes housed in the same room with 12 other people, in terrible conditions,” he said.

Several cases recorded

Max and Anna are far from the only refugees from Ukraine to find themselves in this bind. Inna Yaremenko, who has been the representative of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since October 2024, says that she is contacted every week by refugees experiencing housing difficulties.

Most of the cases involve women with one or more dependent children. “They don’t necessarily know the administrative languages, they find it hard to find work, it’s very difficult for them,” said Yaremenko, who is also vice-president of the NGO LUkraine.

Inna Yaremenko arrived in Luxembourg seven years ago, long before Russia invaded Ukraine. © Photo credit: Michael Merten

Yaremenko tries to find solutions for every complaint that arrives in her mailbox. But the Ukrainian, who arrived in Luxembourg seven years ago, sometimes feels quite helpless. “A Ukrainian woman with dependent children and temporary protection status cannot find a flat. I’ve already helped a refugee in this situation, by visiting flats with her and trying to give guarantees to landlords, but it’s impossible. It’s not true to say that refugees can easily find a job and accommodation.”

56 homes made available by the Red Cross

The total duration of the accommodation provided free of charge is stipulated in the contract from the outset, the Red Cross said. These contracts may be renewed “in exceptional cases”, such as that of Max and Anna.

“The Red Cross carries out social monitoring of the people occupying the accommodation to help them find more permanent solutions by becoming self-sufficient,” said the charity. Last year, 21 families, or 121 refugees, were able to integrate thanks to work and by obtaining accommodation on the private market, the charity said.

At the beginning of 2025, the Red Cross counted 56 homes made available to 91 families, or 241 people. Of these families, 30 found a permanent solution by finding accommodation on the private market, or by signing a private contract for the accommodation previously provided free of charge. The charity says it is endeavouring to find a solution on a case-by-case basis for each beneficiary of temporary protection.

In 2024, 15 families found accommodation with a host family after their accommodation was no longer available. Another 15 families found accommodation on the private market, and six families signed a private contract for the accommodation previously provided free of charge. Five other families have returned to Ukraine.

Distressing situation

“It is well known that the housing crisis in Luxembourg does not make it easy for refugees to find suitable accommodation. This housing crisis also has an impact on the reception of applicants for international protection who should leave the structures and remain there because of the lack of affordable accommodation,” said the Red Cross.

“The reception network is completely saturated,” said the Ministry for the Family, Solidarity, Living Together and Reception. “The ONA [national reception office] is proactively looking for land or buildings on which to create accommodation facilities.” The ONA is targeting its efforts at municipalities that do not yet have accommodation facilities for applicants for international protection on their territory.

Aware that he would not be able to access the private housing market without a stable income, Max applied to the Red Cross for financial assistance. This was not granted. Now a holder of a residence permit, he applied to the municipality of Differdange for social housing, and was put on the waiting list. At the same time, he lodged an application with the administrative court for the introduction of safeguard measures, which was rejected on 28 March.

Today, Max and Anna find themselves with no other solution than to return to square one, to the primary reception centre on Rue Tony Rollman. The couple say they have “terrible memories” of the place.

“The Tony Rollman centre is a real ghetto,” said Yaremenko. “The whole Ukrainian community knows about it. It’s a horrible place, especially for people with children. This place was designed for refugees to stay for only a few weeks, but I have received complaints from refugees who have been living there for several months.”

“I didn’t think that such things could happen in Luxembourg. A refugee told me a few months ago that she had chosen the Grand Duchy because she thought it was one of the best countries in Europe, particularly in terms of education for her children,” Yaremenko continued. “When she woke up in the first reception centre, she was shocked by what she saw, and she told me she couldn’t understand how such a beautiful city could hide such a horrible place.”

Yaremenko hopes to meet Claudine Konsbruck, Luxembourg’s new ombudsman, in the near future, to bring these many situations to her attention.

*The name of the person has been changed to protect their identity.

(This article was published by Virgule. Adapted and edited by Alex Stevensson.)