Give a room, give someone a future
Room for Change turns empty hotel rooms into a safe place to rest for people who are temporarily without a home. Hotels open their doors, care partners provide guidance, and within three to six months people move on to more permanent housing.
One room, three steps, a real way forward
- 01
A hotel room gives breathing space
Participating hotels make one or more rooms available. That creates a safe place where someone can catch their breath.
- 02
A partner provides guidance
Local care partners select every participant and support them on the way to stability.
- 03
A person gains perspective
Out of survival mode, there is room again to look ahead. After three to six months, participants move on to durable housing.
People like you and me, without a home for a while
Participants are people who are economically homeless: without addictions or psychiatric indications, but without a place to live. Homelessness can happen to anyone, through a divorce, illness, job loss, bankruptcy, or several at once. They often cannot buy a home or rent privately, and are usually not registered long enough to qualify for social housing.
Room for Change offers an in-between solution so they do not end up on the street or in emergency shelters, where the risk of developing compounding problems is high. Hotels tell us participants are indistinguishable from their regular guests. For the participant, it is invaluable to exist for a while without the label “homeless”, and we see their self-image grow during their stay.
“When you have no place to rest, to cry and to sleep when you need to, it is damn hard to recharge your batteries and find the energy to deal with setbacks. Or to focus on your future. After three months in the hotel, I am at the start of a bright new future.”
No home yourself?
Participants come to us through a care partner in their city. Here is where you can go for help.
Critical Time Intervention
The programme is built on the principle of Critical Time Intervention (CTI): the period in which someone needs extra support to rebuild stability. Many participants are homeless or without a fixed address, staying for a while with others, in a shelter, a car, a caravan or another emergency arrangement. Catching people early, before problems escalate further, greatly improves their chances of recovery and durable housing. Most participants move on to a (semi-)permanent home within three to six months.
Active in five cities, growing towards ten
Today Room for Change runs in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Den Bosch and Arnhem. Our ambition is to keep growing towards the ten largest cities in the country, and we hope Room for Change can one day serve as a pilot for other countries.
- 30 hotels have taken part
- 250 people helped since 2021
- 5 cities active today
- 10 largest cities: our growth ambition
Help make the next room possible
Whether you run a hotel, work with this group, or want to give, there is a place for you in the programme.