Introduction to Everyday Co-living through Homes for Ukraine scheme

An introduction to everyday co-living through the Homes for Ukraine scheme[i] 

Within a few hours of the announcement of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, many UK households registered to welcome those escaping the conflict. The government announced that in addition to providing a safe space for people from Ukraine, the hosts would be expected to support their ‘guests’ in accessing various services (e.g. health, benefits, education, etc) in order to help them feel more settled in the UK. Considering the unique set up of this scheme, we have identified the need to do research on co-living, as it has been experienced by both: the so called ‘hosts’ and ‘guests.’

We have been carrying out research with people who expressed interest in hosting since early days of the scheme, spring 2022 till the end of 2023. Our research with ‘hosts’ had two aims: to explore the expectations and motivations behind the hosting practice; and to examine how hospitality and the practice of welcome shape the processes of one’s settling in a new country. More recently, summer 2023, we have conducted research with people from Ukraine. In this part of research our aim was also twofold: to learn how it feels to live one’s life in someone else’s home; and to explore whether and how staying with individuals or families in the UK shapes how one settles in a new country. As such, this project had two research parts, it was carried out by two different researchers, and designed differently in terms of length of time, research methods and analysis. To learn more about the design and details of the research part with the ‘guests’ you can read the introduction to Living your life in someone else’s home. Here you can learn more about Everyday hosting.