Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Ukrainian refugees still welcome in many private Swiss homes

refugee accommodation
Many refugees are also housed in publicly-built centres, such as this one on the outskirts of Bern. © Keystone / Anthony Anex

Six months after the Russian invasion, the commitment of Swiss citizens who took in Ukrainian refugees is proving more persistent than expected, a media report says.

Quoting an estimate by the inter-cantonal social services body, Tamedia publications write on MondayExternal link that some 60% – or 40,000 – of all registered Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland are still housed privately, and only 5-10% of them had been relocated by the summer.

Some of the 26 cantons contacted by the paper, including Basel City and Geneva, said they were surprised by the stability and persistence of the citizen engagement, which was widely seen as a temporary solution that would only last a few months.

A minister from canton Zurich – Switzerland’s biggest, and also the one hosting the most Ukrainian refugees – already said last month that “many host families are keeping people longer than expected”.

‘Exaggerated’

The Director of the Swiss Refugee Council told the newspapers that “the panic [that the commitment of many hosts was waning] before the summer break was exaggerated”.

Of course there were households who ended the arrangement after a shorter period, she said; but this could be for a variety of reasons, not just a case of conflict or tension with the lodgers. The refugees might also have found a place of their own in the meantime.

As a percentage of the overall numbers, cases of conflict leading to a breakdown in the arrangement are rare, she said.

According to the latest figures published last Friday by the State Secretariat for Migration, 62,941 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Switzerland since the beginning of the war; 60,793 of them have obtained the S permit that allows them to live and work in the country for at least a year.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR