Volunteer-Run Group: Refugees Canada

volunteer-run group: After running a pilot project in Ottawa last winter, Roofs for Refugees Canada has started working with local shelters and settlement agencies to help place refugees in homes across the GTA. The idea came about when the government had announcement we'd be taking in an influx of Syrian refugees, says Yusra Uzair, who volunteers as the Toronto coordinator, according to NOW Magazine. Our national coordinator Steve Day was working with settlement agencies to see how to address the housing issue. As the city continues to try to find a way to regulate Airbnb, a local volunteer-run group dubbed the Airbnb for refugees has quietly launched in Toronto. He reached out to Refugees Welcome International in Germany to start Roofs for Refugees Canada, which is an affiliate of that organization. Volunteers helped vet the offers through phone interviews and home visits before they were added to an online database. In Ottawa, Roofs for Refugees received more than 150 housing offers from local landlords. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.