The coronavirus emergency has been hard on NHS staff. Their job has become immeasurably more stressful, often (and shamefully) with insufficient Personal Protection Equipment.
To top this, some have lost their accommodation as live-in landlords seek to protect themselves against the threat of infection. Others need places to stay near to their place of work so they do not have long journeys or to avoid infecting family members.
Although some landlords have behaved negatively, others are ‘stepping up to the plate’ and are offering their properties to NHS workers either at a reduced rate or for free.
But if you are an NHS worker looking for accommodation or a landlord wanting to offer properties – where do you go?
To help, I have sourced the following websites:
>> Homes for NHS
This was set up by Merilee Karr of the Short Term Accommodation Association. The site offers Free Accommodation for NHS staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic, save for small contributions requested to help cover weekly cleaning, fresh linens & utilities.
They are calling for property owners with furnished whole homes or blocks of flats available to contact them saying that they can help prepare them and provide them to NHS staff with no management fee.
NHS staff and landlords wishing to provide properties can apply via the forms on the site.
>> Rooms4NHS
This site was set up by Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Joseph Alsousou after he was asked to leave his lodging by his landlady.
As a response to this, he set up Rooms4NHS which tries to match applications by NHS workers with offers of accommodation by landlords. The website was set up and designed by Dr Alsousou on a voluntary basis in his spare time. There is no charge to NHS staff or landlords.
>> Airbnb
After coming under considerable criticism for continuing to offer holiday homes (including COVID 19 retreats) the company has temporarily restricted UK bookings to key workers and “essential stays” because of the coronavirus crisis.
They have now set up a “Stays for frontline UK medical professionals” offering to connect UK medical professionals on the frontline with hosts offering free places to stay during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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If you know of any other similar services, please let me know in the comments below and I will add them to this page.
