'It’s one thing to read about a humanitarian crisis unfolding in some far away war-torn country, but an entirely different experience when that country is your neighbour and families of refugees start arriving at your local train station.'
Yet that was the reality that the real estate community across the CEE region were confronted with in February, following the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine.
It’s estimated that in the first two weeks of the conflict more than 600,000 people crossed the Polish border, some with relatives and friends they could call on, but the vast majority with nothing more than the clothes they stood up in and a few hastily gathered possessions. Today, the total number of refugees to have crossed the Polish border is around 3.9 mln.
The ensuing shock galvanised the nation into action with the real estate sector having a particularly important role to play in the initial phases of our country’s response. As a sector, the help we provided was split broadly into three areas.
Firstly, faced with the largest movement of people in Europe since the Second World War, there was an immediate need for space and temporary accommodation where families could be looked after and provided with at least basic necessities such as food, sanitary facilities and a roof over their heads. To meet this need, landlords from across the CEE region came together to make available thousands of square metres of suitable empty logistics and office space.
Second, was the provision of logistics space to accommodate the enormous international humanitarian effort. In the initial few days and weeks, vacant logistics facilities were freed up to house and facilitate the distribution of inbound aid being sent from everyone including large nations, international NGOs and members of the public. To see the scale of the response first-hand was astonishing and quite humbling.
The third strand to our response was more hands-on, allowing our staff to get involved. This resulted in some truly heroic and emotional efforts, stretching well beyond the work day for many into holidays, evenings, nights and weekends. It was so inspiring to see the community come together to achieve so much in such adverse circumstances, and to reaffirm what is possible with passion, purpose and teamwork. The following examples provide a small insight into what people have been doing to support.
Two of our team coordinated support for a family from Ternopil in western Ukraine. The deaf mother had crossed the border on the 3 March with her four children ranging in age from 2 to 14 years old. Initially they shared a flat with another family while our team worked in shifts to find them medical support and helping them with various administrative matters, including driving them around and food shopping.
As the situation began to stabilise, the children started attending a local school and we were in the process of securing permanent accommodation when the mother took the brave decision to return home. The draw of home was strong enough to overcome the fear of war.
Other members of the team shared responsibility for looking after a mother with her 17-year-old daughter suffering with severe heart disease and her 12-year-old cousin, whose parents had stayed in Ukraine to look after her elderly grandmother. They immediately needed legal and specialist medical support. As with many of the families who fled, the male members had remained behind to fight for their country.
At one point, one of our team was looking after 6 people in her home, including two children, while also helping another 4 women with 4 children to find accommodation at her family and friends.
In the Czech Republic, the team has been supporting the local community efforts. In the very first days they have provided accommodation to sixteen families in the local community centre. Neighbours have donated beds, mattrasses, blankets, pillows, and other basic supplies.
And last but not least, Cromwell has adopted a Ukrainian refugee cat.
Needless to say, our team has been deeply touched by some of the experiences over the past few weeks, in particular where these involved taking families into our own homes.
While the outcome of the war in Ukraine remains uncertain and the humanitarian situation is still critical, we are pleased to report that some of the families we were able to support in those early days have now managed to return to their homes or relatives in Ukraine, while others have found more long term arrangements in Poland and other parts of Europe.
As a business, we continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Until global sanctions are lifted, we will not enter into any new contracts or leases with Russian-related businesses, and we remain ready to deploy further resources or space in support of the humanitarian response as needed.
