Dear friends,
You helped create private accommodations for Ukrainian refugees in the past. Approximately 60,000 people have found safe and quick accommodation through our project. Thank you for making this huge success possible.
Currently, not many people are fleeing from Ukraine. However, we see the terrible images of those who are trying to flee, especially across the Mediterranean, and images from overcrowded reception camps in many countries, daily in the media.
Refugees need quick help - this also strengthens democracy.In Germany and throughout Europe, there is an increasingly intense debate about how to deter refugees. Populist demands dominate the debate climate. But the experiences of recent years from all European countries show: no measure has reduced the number of refugees. On the contrary, the number of desperate people who have to leave their homes and seek a new place to live is growing.
90% of our hosts believe that supporting refugees is an essential part of democracy. Therefore, we want to organize concrete help for refugees - and in the first step, this means safe accommodations.
Collective accommodations - often a dead end!In Germany, most refugees are still housed in collective accommodations many months after their arrival and registration because they cannot find a flat. There, they live without privacy, without a realistic chance to establish contacts with local people, mostly without the possibility to work and thus stand on their own feet.
What is not being utilized and organized in most cities are private accommodations.From initial surveys, we know that many of you who volunteered to help people from Ukraine are also willing to accommodate refugees from other countries. But the legal barriers for this are high.
However, many studies have shown that a fresh start in Germany is most successful when refugees can live in their own apartments.
What is going wrong in the current system that the great willingness of people like you is hardly being utilized to organize accommodation for refugees outside of collective accommodations? What needs to change?We want to document this very quickly. Therefore, we ask for your financial support.Very quickly and together with support of Deutschen Zentrums für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (DeZIM) we want to research and publish facts:
- What experiences have hosts had supporting refugees from Ukraine? What can also be transferred to help other groups? Where are the biggest challenges and opportunities?
- Which legal regulations currently prevent a larger number of private individuals from systematically seeking and providing private accommodations?
- How the problem of accommodation and integration can be reduced with the help of many people like you?
We promise you:
All of this shall happen very quickly. Because it is necessary to act NOW.
We kindly ask you to make these research efforts possible with your donation. Because it remains true: Refugees need concrete help! And they need it very quickly.
We'd appreciate your support!
Our promise: In our newsletters, we will always keep you up to date on the progress of the research. Thank you in advance for your support.
We will prepare this research in collaboration with our long-standing partner – the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM).
Best regards
Your team from Unterkunft.org
Felix Oldenburg, Dmitry Pismennyi und Birgit Radow
PS A big request:Do you have friends and acquaintances who want to provide concrete help to refugees right now? Then please ask them to make these important research efforts possible with a donation.