Emergency housing — terms of participation

Section 1

What the program provides

Grains books and pays directly for short-term accommodation in Germany — a private room or an apartment, sized to the household. Bookings are made through the Airbnb platform, or occasionally through hotels or comparable providers.

The accommodation is the whole of what we provide. The program does not cover travel to or from the accommodation, food, local transport, phone credit, insurance, or any other cost. No money is paid to participants at any point, and no costs are reimbursed.

Section 2

Who can take part

To take part, you must meet all of the following:

• Be 18 or older. You may apply for yourself, or for yourself together with your children. We do not place anyone under 18 without an accompanying adult.
• Be displaced — a refugee or asylum seeker, a person applying for asylum, humanitarian protection or a comparable status, or a person displaced by war, disaster, or another emergency. A pending decision does not disqualify you.
• Need accommodation located in Germany.
• Be able to live independently, or be accompanied by someone who provides the assistance you need.
• Have onward accommodation arranged, or credibly close to arranged, for after the stay ends.

Country of origin and nationality are not a condition of participation.

Section 3

Length of stay

Stays run from a minimum of 3 nights to a maximum of 21 nights. The exact dates are fixed at the point of booking and confirmed to you in writing before arrival.

Stays are not extended. If your circumstances change during a stay, tell us as early as possible and we will help where we can, but the 21-night maximum is firm.

Section 4

How applications are assessed

Applying does not entitle you to a place. Demand exceeds the number of places available, and applications that meet every condition in section 2 are regularly declined for lack of capacity.

Priority is given to families with children, single parents, and elderly people. Beyond that we consider how urgent the situation is and whether a stay of up to three weeks resolves something rather than postponing it.

We do not take into account race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

You will receive a decision within one to two days of applying. Decisions are final for the current application round; you may apply again in a future round.

Section 5

Verification

If your application progresses, we will ask for identification for every adult in the household and for a document showing your circumstances — for example an asylum registration, a Fiktionsbescheinigung, or a passport with an entry stamp.

We will tell you what is needed and where to send it. Do not send documents with your initial application.

To make a booking, we must provide the accommodation provider with the primary guest's full name and date of birth. Applying means agreeing to this.

Section 6

Your responsibilities during the stay

You stay as the guest, under the terms of the accommodation provider and of the platform through which the booking was made. Grains pays for the booking; Grains is not the host, the landlord, the operator, or the manager of the property.

Damage to the property is your responsibility and is settled directly between you and the host or provider under their terms. Grains does not cover damage, cleaning charges beyond the standard fee, penalties, or any other charge arising from how the accommodation is used.

You are also responsible for observing house rules, occupancy limits, and check-out times. Only the people named in your application may stay in the accommodation.

Grains may end a stay where the accommodation is used by people other than those named in the application, where information given in the application proves to be materially false, or where continuing would place others at risk.

Section 7

Ending a stay early

If you no longer need the accommodation — you have found housing elsewhere, or your plans have changed — tell us as soon as you know. Cancelling early frees the place and the funds for someone else, and carries no penalty or consequence for any future application.

Section 8

Your information

We collect only what is needed to assess your application and make a booking. We process it under the GDPR, share with the accommodation provider only what a booking requires, and do not pass it to anyone else for any other purpose.

We do not collect health information, and you should not send us any. Where the accommodation must meet a practical requirement — ground-floor access, step-free entry, room for a cot — describe the requirement rather than the reason for it.

Full details, including how long records are kept and how to exercise your rights, are in our privacy notice.

Section 9

Funding

The program is funded by a grant from Airbnb.org to Förderverein Grains Germany e.V. The grant is restricted to accommodation for displaced people and cannot be spent on anything else, which is why the program covers the booking and nothing around it.

[Exact wording pending Airbnb.org sign-off — Section 11 of the grant agreement requires their written consent before publishing any statement about the partnership.]

Participation is free. Grains never asks participants for money, deposits, fees, or repayment at any stage. If anyone requests payment in connection with this program, report it to us immediately at hello@grains.education.

Section 10

Changes and contact

These terms may be updated. The version and date at the top of this page show which version applies. Changes do not affect a stay already booked.

For anything relating to the program, write to hello@grains.education. We do not operate a phone line for this program.

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