Support and integration of refugees from Ukraine: Perspectives of those concerned

The Russian invasion in Ukraine has led to the destruction of its civil infrastructure and to casualties among the civilian population. This has forced more than 6 million people to leave their homes and their country in search of safety, protection and help. More than 900,000 of them have arrived in Germany, mainly women and children. Initial support by the general population was significant, with many individuals providing accommodation. In addition, we saw a new legal situation unfolding, characterised by the first-time activation of the EU “mass influx Directive”, which enabled displaced from Ukraine an immediate, yet temporary right to stay in Germany. As a result, new questions and challenges have been arising since February 2022 regarding access to basic social security benefits, medical care, accommodation, childcare and continuous education. 

Against this background, we explored the opportunities and obstacles faced by forced migrants from Ukraine who fled to Germany since 24 February 2022 in leading independent and self-determined lives in their new host country.

Repeated qualitative interviews with Ukrainian forced migrants served to document the subjective perspective of the respondents on the process of arriving in Germany under their temporary protection status and to learn more about their needs and information channels between newcomers and the state.

As part of the quantitative survey, we investigated whether
the integration of privately accommodated refugees was better/worse or faster/slower than that of refugees who could not be privately accommodated.

In the quantitative part of the project, we addressed a major research gap by providing systematic quantitative evidence on the causal effects of large-scale private hosting on refugees’ lives, which was largely overlooked despite the rapid expansion of such schemes during the Ukrainian displacement. We focused in particular on how private hosting shapes multidimensional integration outcomes of refugees.

The project provided insights into the interaction of refugees with state institutions in Germany and provided information about their needs and expectations, the extent to which these were being met or remained unmet, and the impact this has on the respondents' lives. We paid particular attention to the experiences of families with infants and young children (0 to 6 years), as well as members of the LGBTQ community.

As part of the quantitative survey, we examined the short- to medium-term effects of private hosting on Ukrainian refugee integration in Germany. The integration pathways of privately and publicly accommodated persons from Ukraine were compared, to develop recommendations for improving placement in private accommodation.

We adopted a multimethodological approach in our qualitative module, carrying out repeated qualitative interviews in Berlin and Munich, and recorded experiences in mood charts and digital diaries (38 in-depth interviews in Ukrainian and Russian in two waves, as well as 12 background interviews with government actors and non-profit organisations involved in supporting newly arrived Ukrainians).

In the quantitative module, in conjunction with the platform #UnterkunftUkraine, which connected private hosts with refugees, we developed an online survey of those people arriving from Ukraine who looked for private accommodation (n=1,700). To identify the effect of being privately hosted, we compared the multidimensional integration outcomes of refugees who were matched with private hosts to those of observably similar refugees who applied for private hosting but were not matched. Since we observed and controlled for the same refugee characteristics that were used by UU to conduct the matching we could identify the causal effect of hosting under a credible selection-on-observables assumption. We distinguished between the effect of being offered a private host (intention-to-treat, ITT) and the effect of actually living in a private accommodation (local average treatment effect, LATE . 

Refugee settlement has to be understood as embedded into local and transnational familial relations. These should, however, not be understood merely
as means towards a specific (settlement) end, but as a constitutive element of refugees’ (un-) anchoring. Second, our data shows that refugee settlement is not a linear,
unidirectional process that can be easily compartmentalised
according to specific life domains or localities. 

More specifically, our participants reported challenges in finding childcare placements, as there was a lack of sufficient places, which in some cases prevented them from participating in integration courses. Intensive care work also led to a double burden and limited their integration efforts. In addition, interactions with the jobcentre were described as cumbersome and unsettling. Participants drew on a wide range of support structures to help them navigate bureaucratic processes. Moreover, unstable housing situations influenced decisions to stay or leave, especially in the beginning. Nevertheless, many people arriving in Germany from Ukraine were quickly placed in private accommodation at the outset. This noticeably relieved the burden on state reception structures.

Last but not least, our findings show significant improvements in the social, psychological and navigational integration of privately hosted refugees. Overall, we find evidence on the effectiveness of private hosting in enhancing refugee integration.

Finally, our findings from the quantitative survey indicated that private hosting significantly enhances refugee integration across several dimensions, particularly in social, psychological and navigational integration, while showing no discernible effects on linguistic, economic or political integration. These effects were consistent across different models and refugee subgroups and remained stable when compared with refugees in public housing or private rentals. Additional analyses suggest that the positive impact of private hosting is driven by frequent interactions with hosts rather than differences in geographic placement.

Forced migrants with temporary protection status and immediate access to the labour market nevertheless need support to navigate a new social support system and ultimately take up employment. Our data showcases numerous challenges for the newly arrived, including the transition from private accommodation to independent living, as well as navigating the jobcentre system.

Moreover, our study shows that private hosting can serve as a cost-effective complement to public asylum reception and housing systems, particularly during mass displacement events that overwhelm public infrastructure. By leveraging civil society engagement, private hosting provides immediate support to refugees and facilitates early-stage integration in key social and psychological dimensions. However, private hosting alone is not sufficient to achieve long-term integration in all dimensions. If governments seek to harness the benefits of private hosting in future refugee crises, they may need to implement regulatory adjustments that allow for more flexible placement of refugees, by activating existing temporary protection mechanisms, relaxing strict geographic allocation policies or incorporating private hosting into official allocation systems.