By Gunnar Schupelius
No more emergency shelters, no modular shelters for refugees and no apartments: the ways of housing for migrants are blocked for the foreseeable future. But nobody dares to openly name this truth, says Gunnar Schupelius
The time has come: Berlin is overcrowded. Social Senator Katja Kipping (left) had warned of this since July, now the case has come: There is no more accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers.
The current situation is as follows: The Berlin State Office for Refugee Affairs has a total of 27,850 places, almost all of which are occupied. Around 2,700 migrants currently have to be accommodated additionally.
And there are more and more. In October, around 100 asylum seekers arrived in Berlin every day. At the beginning of November, the governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) called the number 150 per day. This refers primarily to migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, there are about 150 refugees from Ukraine per day.
The numbers are expected to continue rising in the coming months. Senator Kipping sees the acute danger of mass homelessness, which is why she activated the “emergency plan for accommodating refugees” on Tuesday and declared “Level II”. According to this, 10,000 new sleeping places are to be created by the end of the year, i.e. within six weeks.
But where? An emergency solution is the so-called “compaction”. To put it bluntly, you add a third bed to a room with two beds. However, the prescribed minimum area of six square meters per resident of an accommodation would then be exceeded.
The second emergency solution are “large tents”. They are to be set up on the Tempelhofer Feld, in the Olympic Park, on the exhibition grounds and on the Tegel airfield. These tents were purchased in the spring in view of the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
But even if it were possible to create enough space in the tents, another problem remains unsolved: there are no social workers and educational specialists to look after the migrants.
The providers of the accommodation cannot find any staff on the market. Internally, it is already being considered to train migrants themselves and to use them during the training.
And even if the personnel problem were solved, that would only help in the moment, but not in the long term. After all, after the emergency room, the asylum seekers have to find permanent accommodation somewhere. The modular accommodation for refugees (MUF) is intended for this. But they are all occupied.
Because the residents of the MUF should actually get a regular apartment if they have the right of residence. But there are no vacant apartments. The ways of accommodation are blocked indefinitely.
The truth is that Berlin can no longer take anyone in – politicians speak this truth behind closed doors, but not publicly, they don’t dare.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]