Host families get €150 a month in pilot for refugees
From 1 May 2026, families who take in an asylum seeker or refugee with a residence permit through Takecarebnb receive a volunteer allowance, under a one-year pilot by the asylum and migration minister.
Host families recruited through the volunteer foundation Takecarebnb receive €150 a month from 1 May 2026 for as long as an asylum seeker or status holder stays with them. Asylum and Migration Minister Bart van den Brink decided on a one-year pilot, following a commitment to SGP MP Van Dijk to explore a volunteer allowance for host families.
The pilot sits within the logeerregeling, the guest scheme, which lets status holders and asylum seekers stay temporarily with host families, family or friends while they wait for housing. It relieves pressure on reception capacity at the COA, the asylum reception agency. The ministry's decision memo says 97% of guests moved on to permanent housing in 2024; the other 3% had to return to a COA location.
The memo, dated 15 December 2025, advised a pilot that would approach at least 50 new host families, so that the number of guests matched to a host family could rise to 550. Around 1,400 status holders registered to use the scheme in 2024, and the memo says there are too few host families to meet that demand. Takecarebnb made about 490 matches in 2025 and wants about 500 in 2026. Takecarebnb estimates that about 10% of families who sign up drop out because nothing covers the extra costs of another person in the house.
The memo puts the total cost at €509,460: €495,000 in allowances, based on 550 guests staying an average of six months, and €14,460 a year for extra capacity Takecarebnb says it needs. In the memo's proposal, Takecarebnb handles the paperwork and pays out the allowance.
The memo also advised against paying the existing housing allowance (wooncomponent) directly to host families, citing legal and practical objections. That money goes to the guest under an agreement with the COA: €75 a week for guests aged 21 or older. In a family, the second person gets €25 a week, the third and fourth €12.50 each, up to €125 a week. Guests and hosts can agree between themselves on a contribution towards the host's costs.
The memo says the allowance does not affect taxable income, benefits or housing and healthcare allowances, as long as it stays within €210 a month or €2,100 a year and the recipient is over 27. It proposes evaluating the pilot in spring 2027 to decide whether it continues, and whether the housing allowance could be lowered.
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COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers)
The independent government body that houses and looks after asylum seekers while their applications are processed. It runs reception centres across the country and falls under the minister responsible for asylum and migration.
logeerregeling
The guest scheme is a Dutch arrangement that lets people who have been granted asylum (status holders) stay temporarily with a host family, relatives or friends while they wait for their own housing. It gives them a place to live without having to go through the regular housing allocation first. The scheme matters because the shortage of available homes for newly recognised refugees means many of them would otherwise remain in asylum reception places longer.