Background information

The state provides free initial accommodation to Ukrainian refugees for 30 days after their arrival. After that, people must find a more permanent accommodation. For this, private as well as legal persons have offered hundreds of options for the refugees. To ease the mediation of the information, the Estonian Refugee Council and the Social Insurance Board have established suitable databases.

Content of measure

The Estonian Refugee Council started receiving information about available accommodation options for the refugees from natural and legal persons since the beginning of March. They have gathered the information into a database and volunteers mediate the contacts of the persons in need of an accommodation and those providing it. When mediating free or low-cost dwellings, they prioritise families with small children where family members might have difficulties to work in the near future. They also shared the information with local governments so the social workers can also share the information.

In addition, on 6 April 2022 a real estate portal was opened in cooperation of the Estonian Social Insurance Board and a real estate portal provider. Anyone can submit their accommodation offer in the portal and the text is automatically translated from Estonian to Russian. It is meant for the refugees to independently search for the most suitable offer. The portal contains free as well as paid accommodation options.

The Estonian Refugee Council and other parties will still continue to mediate offers and help the refugees if needed.

Use of measure

By 2 May 2022, the Estonian Refugee Council had around 3,000 accommodation options in their database and they had mediated 856 dwellings for Ukrainian households. The real estate portal contains on 17 May altogether 140 offers all over Estonia.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) Public support service providers	Other

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

Not available.

Sources

• 06 April 2022: Majutuse vahendamise info ja uus kinnisvaraportaal Ukraina sõjapõgenikele (Mediating accommodation and a new portal) (www.pagulasabi.ee)
• 06 April 2022: Ukraina sõjapõgenikele avati püsiva elukoha leidmiseks kinnisvaraportaal (A real estate portal opened for Ukrainian refugees) (www.sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee)
• 02 May 2022: Eesti Pagulasabi 02. mai ülevaade (Overview of Estonian Refugee Council on May 2) (www.pagulasabi.ee)