Housing Empowerment for Refugees Fleeing Ukraine

Our project aims to provide a model, holistic, and empowerment-based housing and social support program for refugees arriving from Ukraine, while also fostering systemic change through public awareness and policy advocacy, based on the core principle is that secure housing is both a fundamental human right and a prerequisite for social integration.
The project’s direct target groups are refugees from Ukraine, with particular focus on dual citizens, Roma refugees, and families with children. It also directly involves peer mentors with refugee backgrounds, as well as professionals and decision-makers engaged in refugee support and policy development.
The project’s main activities include providing rental subsidies for 16 households, delivering empowerment-focused social work, strengthening a peer mentoring program led by refugees, and organizing policy forums, policy recommendations, and public awareness campaigns. Our methodology combines housing support, holistic social work, rights awareness, and the active participation of affected people.
Implementation is based on cooperation with refugee-supporting professionals, social workers, policymakers, and refugees themselves. Our long-term goal is to ensure that empowerment-based support, housing assistance, peer mentoring, and the meaningful involvement of affected communities become embedded in central governmental, municipal, and other institutional practices, contributing to fairer refugee and housing policies.

The project aims to provide exemplary, holistic, and empowering housing and social support to refugees arriving from Ukraine, while also promoting systemic change through awareness-raising and policy advocacy. It is fundamental that safe housing is both a basic human right and a prerequisite for social integration. The project’s direct target group consists of refugees, with a particular focus on dual citizens, Roma refugees, and families with children. It also directly involves peer mentors participating in the program, as well as professionals and decision-makers.
The project’s main activities include providing rental assistance to 16 households, empowering social work, developing a peer mentor program for refugees, and organizing policy forums, making policy recommendations, and conducting public awareness campaigns. The methodology is based on integrating housing, holistic social support, legal awareness, and the active involvement of those affected.
Throughout the project, there will be collaboration with professional partners supporting refugees, social workers, decision-makers, and the individuals directly affected. The long-term goal is for empowerment, housing support, peer support, and stakeholder involvement to be incorporated into state, municipal, and other institutional practices, thereby contributing to the development of more equitable refugee and housing policies.
 

The project’s direct target group consists primarily of particularly vulnerable refugees arriving from Ukraine, especially those who are partially or completely excluded from other forms of support (e.g., individuals with dual Ukrainian–Hungarian citizenship); Roma refugees, who face heightened discrimination; and families with children. The project directly reaches at least 16 refugee households through rental assistance and 60 individuals through social work; it also relies on peer mentors (2 individuals) who, as active helpers within their own community, support the mentees (7 individuals). The direct target group consists of decision-makers (5 individuals), professionals (10 individuals), and citizens, through the project’s policy-making and awareness-raising activities. The project’s indirect target group includes all refugees currently living in Hungary or those who will arrive in the future, who can benefit from the project’s policy outcomes, its model program nature, and its awareness-raising impact. This also includes the family members and communities of the participating refugee tenants (many times the size of the direct target group), who, by passing on the knowledge, skills, and networking opportunities they have gained, will themselves have better access to various services. Another indirect target group consists of the organization’s other tenants who are not refugees (157 people), through the peer mentor program and the development of the organization’s capacities. The development of the project is based on the experiences of the refugee program, feedback from tenants, and the practical knowledge of peer mentors. During implementation, those involved will participate not only as beneficiaries but also as active participants: as peer mentors, participants in professional forums, and campaign organizers. Regular feedback, shared reflection, and participatory processes will also be incorporated into the evaluation.