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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen an unprecedented outbreak of solidarity across Europe, with millions wanting to help those fleeing the violence. As well as donating money to relief funds, many people have offered to shelter Ukrainian refugees in their own homes. But are governments across the world doing enough to respond to their citizens’ generosity?

Take the UK, for example. In the weeks following the Kremlin’s invasion, 150,000 Britons signed up to a government website to host a Ukrainian refugee in their home. Yet the resulting scheme (unveiled by Michael Gove) has since been slammed for being unnecessarily cumbersome, placing bureaucratic hurdles between refugees and would-be hosts.

Could the private and nonprofit sector help speed things up? As the world’s biggest marketplace for short-term lets, Airbnb has more than six million properties worldwide listed across its platform. Airbnb.org – an independent nonprofit organisation – facilitates temporary stays for people in times of crisis around the world. At a lunch hosted in association with The Spectator, Airbnb and the nonprofit discussed how it could facilitate temporary accommodation to some 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, and shared their experiences to date.

As one Airbnb.org representative explained, it had first stepped up its support for refugees after the Afghanistan withdrawal last year. ‘We’ve been working with the Home Office on its Afghan resettlement programme. Our big idea was that our hosts could provide refugees with temporary accommodation in those places they would actually end up living,’ she said. ‘That way, refugees can get a head start on settling into the community – getting their children enrolled in schools, for example – while they wait for permanent accommodation.’

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the war in Ukraine had galvanised interest in the scheme among Airbnb users. ‘Within a few days of the invasion we had thousands of hosts around the world saying they wanted to offer free accommodation,’ said another representative from the nonprofit. ‘That’s since risen to more than 48,000.’ Many were experienced Airbnb hosts and used to hosting visitors from across the world.

So, what did the politicians and policy brains around the table make of the initiative? ‘I think it’s another great reminder that there’s very often a free market response to some of the biggest challenges we face,’ said Jake Berry, chairman of the Conservative party’s Northern Research Group. ‘This is exactly why we need to have people in government who actually understand how these kinds of platforms can be utilised,’ said his colleague John Stevenson.

The idea went down equally well with Simon Jupp, Conservative MP for East Devon, who felt it had clear potential to improve the way the UK treated people fleeing conflict or persecution. ‘The UK took in around 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan last year but many of them are still stuck in seaside hotels,’ he said. ‘I’d like to see us being a lot more generous with what we’re doing for people in that situation.’

For Fraser Nelson, The Spectator’s editor and a longstanding critic of the perverse nature of UK asylum policy, the discussion highlighted some of the flaws of the existing system. ‘The average cost for the hotels housing refugees is about £200 a night – which I think is quite a lot,’ he said. By contrast, Airbnb.org’s scheme could potentially provide the government with thousands of hosts offering free accommodation, thus allowing that hotel money to be spent elsewhere, including on supporting refugees more directly.

There were still some potential issues with expanding the UK’s role in the migrant crisis – as Nick King, a former Treasury adviser now running the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, outlined. While there was a clear public appetite to take in more Ukrainians, the government was still bound by its long-standing policy that refugees should seek asylum in the first safe country they reach. If the government were to overturn that principle, it could come unstuck in future.

It was true, as well, that many of those fleeing the war weren’t heading for Britain at all, but instead seeking shelter in those countries with closer linguistic and cultural ties to Ukraine. Neighbouring Poland now houses more Ukrainian refugees than the rest of the EU put together. ‘That’s why we’re trying to get as many hosts willing to host refugees in central and eastern Europe too,’ said Airbnb.org, ‘As well as bigger countries like France and Germany, which are easier for refugees to reach.’

It didn’t stop there, either. As a tech company, Airbnb is still accessible in Ukraine itself, which is yielding benefits to those on the ground. Refugees fleeing the fighting in Kyiv and Kharkiv, for example, used the platform to find temporary accommodation in the safer western regions of Ukraine. Meanwhile, a viral internet campaign (not officially endorsed by Airbnb) saw social media users booking otherwise empty holiday lets in the Ukrainian capital so local hosts would get paid.

For Airbnb, it was another reminder of the potential for the sharing economy to help facilitate grassroots philanthropy. ‘You’ve got so many people wanting to do something about this dreadful situation,’ said one representative. ‘If they’re an Airbnb host – or they’d consider becoming one – then we can give them a credible way to do that.’ With 46,000 users signed up already to provide free accommodation to refugees, it was an offer that clearly resonated with many – and which may well prove vital in the months ahead.

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