"Some refugees stay with families who can no longer pay for their food. Others are in asylum centres, where the food is insufficient. We see a lot of demand," Stocklin said.
Even before the Ukraine crisis, welfare payments to refugees were not enough to live on in some areas of Switzerland.
Voters in Zurich decided in 2017 to lower welfare payments to refugees to around 500 Swiss francs ($522) per month, 30% below standard social welfare levels.
Heike Isselhorst, a spokesperson for Zurich's social service department, said people housed by the authorities had basic needs covered.
However, there was no procedure for aiding refugees staying with host families, she said.
Gaby Szoelloesy, who coordinates cantonal social welfare departments, apologised this week to host families who feel left in the lurch.
"But it is simply very, very difficult if we don't even know of the host family's commitment because it did not go via official channels," she told a news conference.
While the government has taken the unusual step of allowing Ukrainian refugees to apply for temporary residency and work permits, this does little to address the present needs of the struggling refugees staying with host families.
One Ukrainian refugee named Anna, 38, arrived in the Zurich suburb of Winterthur in late February with her two young children and her mother. They live in the apartment of a friend's parents.
"We slept in a refugee centre when we arrived, but it was not a good place for the children, no privacy, no good food. They even searched us every time we came back from outside," she said.
