Help team Garden Cottage fund housing in Athens

Mazí Housing runs 3 supportive houses in Athens, providing a safe place to live for 40 young men a year, and a platform for them to rebuild and move on in their lives.

People seeking asylum in Greece are made to choose between detention or destitution, life in the camps or on the streets. This is no accident: European governments want to deter others from arriving by creating hell for those already here.

Very few services for young men in this situation exist, least of all housing options, largely because they are so difficult to fund. Not because they are expensive, but because they are for men.

This is why we rely on crowdfunding (ie YOU) to cover our core costs.

On November 9th, I (Milo), a Mazí director and programmes manager, will be running the full Athens Marathon. And I have convinced my cousins Maya and Nina, my siblings Lara and Theo and their partners Patrick and Dom, as well as my mother Marina, to put in the hard yards to raise enough to cover Mazí residents' housing costs through 2026.

Here's what your donation could get you:

$50 - a fresh set of linens (towels, sheets, pillowcases)

$200 - electricity for the month (lights on, stove hot, taps running)

$500 - food for the month (cupboards supplied, fridge stocked, bellies full)

$1000 - 1 person's rent for the whole year (a roof over their head, a place to call home)

What crisis?

The so-called European refugee crisis is not so much a crisis of migration as it is a crisis in reception policy. From the unlawful Rwanda policy, to push-backs in the Mediterranean, the goal of European reception policy is to deny asylum seekers access to basic rights and to the benefits of European society in order to deter others from trying to enter Fortress Europe.

The Greek problem

In Greece, the latest example of this is the government’s choice to abruptly close its housing assistance programs in favour of camp-based solutions to accommodating the roughly 85,000 displaced people in the country. These camp-based solutions are flawed for myriad reasons: the standard of conditions inside falls short of those required by international law, and they are in effect prisons, located far from city centres, preventing their residents from accessing essential services and work opportunities. It is near impossible for residents to move forwards with their lives, and in effect are forced to choose between imprisonment if they stay and destitution if they leave.

Mazí housing is different

Mazí Housing helps people transition from camp-rooted limbo or street homelessness, to a place where they can support their own accommodation, and make real choices as they engage positively with society. Mazí supports deprioritised demographics, and here in Greece, that means young men who are travelling alone. Often perceived as strong and independent, while also expected to provide, these young men who face barriers to society become vulnerable to exploitation. At Mazí, residents have safe accommodation from where they are supported to address health problems, develop skills, find work and build independence. Find out more about our work here.

Whose values?

The rush to push boats back out into open water, and to make people who cross borders without a stamp 'criminals', is often made in the name of protecting "our values". What values? Whose values?

At Mazí know exactly what we stand for: freedom, curiosity and care. It is not for us to judge who is worthy of our empathy. And we show that it is possible to meet the standards of support we expect everyone in society should access.

Help us stay in the race

Political and economic challenges strangle funding for organisations like Mazí Housing. The state has closed its programmes, and grassroots are closing one by one. Mazí is the only structured housing programme for young men seeking refuge in Greece. And we need your help. As the shelters close, charities leave Greece and the camps fill up – we are left plugging gaps in government support. To respond, we will open a new apartment in 2025. Join us in opening these doors.

Challenge the narrative

Whether as a runner, or a donor, your contribution is vital to our continued support for young, hopeful men who are displaced in Athens. Joining this community helps us challenge the narrative that deprives young men of choice and forces them down destructive paths. Help us to remove the obstacles that keep these young men from fulfilling their potential, and creating positive lives for themselves and their communities.

As we get closer to November 9th, injuries are taking their toll on our runners, which means we have free spaces! If you'd like to join our band of runners and fundraise with us, please reach out to milo@mazihousing.org.