150 economically homeless people find shelter and home through the ROOM FOR CHANGE programme

Name change: Do good initiative GiveMe5 becomes ROOM FOR CHANGE

ROOM FOR CHANGE, formerly known as GiveMe5, reached an important milestone during the event celebrating its name change to Double Tree by Hilton, next to Amsterdam Central Station: the programme helped as many as 150 people escape a life on the streets. This social responsibility programme invites the hotel industry to make a positive impact on the lives of economically homeless people. With this name change, the promoters remain true to their promise to tackle the growing problem of economic homelessness in the Netherlands. They do this by strengthening cooperation between the hotel industry and civil society organisations in order to provide shelter to economically homeless people and guide them to housing.

A proven concept, with big ambitions

Since its establishment by entrepreneurial collective The Present Movement, the programme, active in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven, has already been able to give over 150 people a fresh start. Through cooperation with hotels and social organisations, such as De Regenboog Groep in Amsterdam, ROOM FOR CHANGE offers people without a home not only a temporary roof over their heads, but also guidance towards permanent housing and, where possible, employment. ROOM FOR CHANGE has the ambition to expand further in the coming year to four other cities where the need is also high. They also aim to establish more sustainable partnerships with hotels in all cities.

Start Foundation stays on board

In addition to unveiling the new milestone in the number of participants, it was also announced that Start Foundation, a fund in Eindhoven that focuses primarily on initiatives that can contribute to employment, will continue financial support to ROOM FOR CHANGE for at least a year. Besides Start Foundation, ROOM FOR CHANGE is made possible by 'The Present 100', a group of entrepreneurs who together form the heart of The Present Movement, the initiator of the hotel programme.

More up-to-date than ever

The recent rise in the number of homeless people in the Netherlands* makes ROOM FOR CHANGE's mission more relevant than ever. In light of this challenge and the political ambition to eliminate homelessness across Europe by 2030, programme manager Roos Meijer stressed the need to work together and forge partnerships: "ROOM FOR CHANGE is a movement that requires everyone in society: hotels, civil society organisations, employers, knowledge institutions, media and volunteers. But of course also the government itself. Actually, municipalities are the most logical partners and co-financiers, because we demonstrably save society a lot of money. But what we really get out of bed for are those 150 lives we have been able to change together."

*Source: CBS