Berlin is examining 30 buildings – including an ex-hardware store
Hundreds of refugees reach Berlin every week – and the authorities are urgently looking for accommodation for them. It is now being considered to acquire 30 additional buildings in order to house refugees.
Employees of the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) and the Senate Social Administration are currently clarifying which of the planned buildings are actually suitable – including a former hardware store and former children and youth facilities. Many of these 30 properties are in the east of the city. This was reported by employees familiar with the processes on Monday.
Social Senator Katja Kipping (left) told the Tagesspiegel that while the number of incoming Ukrainians is currently stable, more and more asylum seekers are coming from other countries. The aim is to find accommodation that is as large as possible in order to meet the rapidly increasing demand. The obligatory contracts with operators, security guards, catering and energy suppliers are due for every property anyway – regardless of whether it can accommodate 20 or 200 residents.
Some officials expect 60,000 asylum seekers per month nationwide
In September, 1600 Ukrainians stopping over Berlin stayed in the city. However, there were also 1,800 asylum seekers from other countries – mainly from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Moldova. Many of them take months, some years in transit: In the past few weeks, masses of refugees from the Middle East who have been holding out in the Balkans have set off north.
Officials in Berlin are circulating vague, officially unconfirmed information from federal authorities that up to 60,000 refugees a month are expected at Germany’s borders. This means mainly asylum seekers from the Middle East. Ukrainians are not yet taken into account, because they usually do not apply for asylum, but receive a humanitarian residence permit, i.e. temporary protection, according to a decision by the European Union.
The German Red Cross (DRK) takes care of the Ukrainians arriving in Berlin on behalf of the Senate, the first aid takes place in the former Tegel Airport.
1.01 million
British refugees have been registered nationwide
“We create new places every week, most recently in the preferred Terminal C. 1,000 people are already accommodated there today,” said DRK spokesman Karsten Hintzmann. “However, we expect the number to increase, and more people will flee Ukraine in winter. We may soon have to use Terminals A and B.” However, asylum seekers from other countries were last accommodated there, and the red-green-red Senate agreed a week ago to keep these terminals as a reserve.
The state government has been looking for accommodation for months. A new one only opened in Moabit on Friday: 60 people were accommodated in a former hotel, the LAF can accommodate up to 300 people there. There are currently almost 28,000 places for refugees in communal accommodation in Berlin, and hundreds of thousands also live in apartments.
We expect the numbers to increase, and more people will flee Ukraine in winter.
Karsten Hintzmann, DRK spokesman
The Senate is urging the federal administrations to examine their properties in Berlin to see how people can be accommodated there. Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) described the city’s options for taking in refugees as exhausted quickly.
According to the so-called Königstein key, five percent of the refugees who traveled to Germany should remain in Berlin. The rest would have to be distributed to other federal states.
Because Berlin is a transport hub, significantly more people arrive than in other cities: around 350,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in Berlin since the beginning of the war received first aid, at least 100,000 live here. Nationwide, 1.01 million hidden refugees were registered. Even during the refugee crisis of 2015, more asylum seekers ended up in Berlin than the Königstein key would allow.
The managing director of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, told the “Bild” newspaper about the current situation that the accommodation options were limited: “Hotel rooms are already being rented and collective accommodation, for example in gyms, is being prepared.” To avoid a crisis like 2015, the Berlin Senate does not want to occupy gymnasiums with refugees.