“Refugees Welcome” for Asylum Seekers
The first Internet Platform that Helps Refugees Finding Accommodation
July 31st, 2015
Due to the lack of appropriate housing available for the ever increasing number of refugees, there has been some private initiatives taken in favor of asylum seekers, trying to find them at least a temporary accommodation.
One such initiative is the “Flüchtlinge Willkommen” (“Refugees Welcome”), an internet platform founded by Golde Ebding, Mareike Geiling and Jonas Kakoschke. These three Berliners have created a flat-sharing website, in the style of Airbnb, where anyone can offer their own flat or room to a refugee. The project to house refugees in private accommodation began in November 2015 and since then more than 1.200 people from all across Germany have helped to accommodate them.
The process is relatively simple: the host has to register the flat on the website, filling some information about the housing situation. Then, via an external organization that works with refugees, the team will put the host in contact with a refugee, in order to get to know each other. After finding someone suitable, the refugee will move in shortly after. The initiative is active in Germany and Austria, and has helped refugees coming from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Somalia and Syria.
The idea is to welcome asylum seekers as any other new flat-mate, sharing costs where possible, house duties and daily tasks. If the refugees are not working yet and can’t manage to cover the entire cost, the rent is financed by state subsidies or by fund raising through donations ranging from 3 to 50 euros.
These small and easy steps can make an important difference: firstly welcoming refugees is an act of solidarity, and secondly giving a chance for them to better learn the language, adjust to a new environment and, most of all, to feel like part of the community. In return, hosts have the chance to enter in contact with a different culture and help a person in need.
Supporting this project means working together for a new and different culture of welcoming. The three founders hope to proliferate their idea in other European countries, where sometimes immigrants and refugees are seen more as a problem than a possibility to literally open their doors.
References and Links
Martina Rosso, Berlin Global
