Added: Oct 01, 2020
Last edited: Oct 04, 2021
A cooperation - between the Gothenburg City (SE) administration for social welfare allocation and two local IKEA department stores - was launched in 2014 to provide homeless people with a step towards the labour market. The partnership enables people who have lived with isolation and abuse to strengthen their self-esteem, gain meaningful work and furnish their homes.
IKEA's recovery department has furniture that they can no longer sell because of transport damage to packaging or to the products themselves. Participants use a truck to pick up the discarded pieces of furniture at IKEA, fix them in a workshop, then display the repaired items. Other people in the group can then choose the furniture they need. A win-win situation: the participants, and the furniture, all get their second chance.
The solutions are: job training; recycling of discarded furniture; a good social context; cooperation between the municipal and the private sectors. It's good for the target group, good for the furniture company, good for the environment and good for society. It's proven that equality creates a better context for all citizens, not only for the target group of homeless people.
This is a part of the ordinary activities in the municipality of Gothenburg addressing the homelessness problem since 2014. It has never been evaluated externally, although this has never been a project with external funding. [The initiative doesn't] get any money for the restored furniture as it is donated by IKEA and then given away.
This is a very fruitful cooperation between the municipality and IKEA, and both parties are very happy with the cooperation [that has been formed]. For the target group, this has made a huge difference in the quality of life of the most vulnerable on the outskirts of urban life.
Copy obtained from: https://urbact.eu/second-chance-recovery-and-repair
