Can an Airbnb for refugees help ease Europe's crisis?
Registrations to German non-profit organisation to house refugees drops following Cologne and Paris Attacks
One non-profit organisation has aimed the sharing economy's methods at two main concerns of Europe's refugee crisis: Where to house the refugees and how to assimilate them into the host country's culture.
Since its start in 2014 in Germany, Refugees Welcome, which has since expanded to nine other countries, has matched 811 asylum-seekers with hosts with rooms and helping them adapt to the new country.
But with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data showing more than a million migrants pouring into Europe last year alone, the demand for rooms obviously outweighed supply.
"We have over 10,000 [refugee] applications in Germany, and of course a lot less offers for rooms," said Mareike Geiling, co-founder of Refugees Welcome, in a CNBC interview.
It's not just a lack of rooms that slows the non-profit's progress: Matches can't be made willy-nilly.
Geiling said hosts and refugees must be screened, with the process including questions about background, origin country, age and spoken languages. Most crucially, she added, the refugees and hosts must meet in person to cement the fit.
