Accommodation for refugees: Municipalities at the limit of their capacity

The accommodation of refugees is a tour de force for the municipalities. Many are planning container villages like in Bad Hönningen in Rhineland-Palatinate. But that alone is not enough. Does the refugee summit bring solutions?

In his living container in Bad Hönningen, next to the parking lot of a discounter, Mikhail Meshkov is sitting on the bed and is talking about the destruction of his hometown Kharkiv. His house, the entire street: all rubble and ash. The 65-year-old found accommodation with his underage son in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Together with 70 other refugees from Ukraine, they live in the container village that was built shortly after the start of the war against Ukraine. Quite a few containers are used as “men’s shared flats”, as they half-seriously say on site. That means: four strangers, two bunk beds, 15 square meters. Mikhail Meshkov is very grateful for the accommodation and the great support, he says, but would like to have his own apartment. But finding one is extremely difficult.

In the office of the container village, refugee coordinator Barbara Schmitz examines the occupancy plan. “Two young men who have connections here are still coming,” she reports, “as well as three women.” Then the accommodation is full again. There is hardly any fluctuation among the container residents anyway. Where should the refugees go? “The social living space is completely exhausted,” says Schmitz. Some apartments are still occupied by people who came to Germany with the great flight movement of 2015. “And we can’t make anyone homeless,” summarizes Schmitz.

European solution required

The district of Neuwied, in which Bad Hönningen is located, took in more than 3,500 refugees last year, including 3,000 from Ukraine. According to the district administration, that is 20 percent more than the district would have to take in according to the distribution quota within Rhineland-Palatinate. Further assignments would still come. District Administrator Achim Hallerbach (CDU) wonders how that should work. In any case, the state government cannot do much either, he says. Because they have to distribute the refugees, who in turn are assigned by the federal government. So Hallerbach is appealing to the federal government. “We urgently need a European solution,” he says. The federal government must “build control options” so that refugees are distributed more to other EU countries.

In Kaiserslautern the situation is similar. Mayor Klaus Weichel (SPD) reports the figures to make the burden on his community clear: the city took in 1,560 Ukrainian refugees, “45 percent more than we should actually take in,” says Weichel. Ten community accommodations have now been set up, including two blocks of flats, a hotel, a former retirement home and a former gym. In addition, there would be several halls, three of which are now to be converted. “There’s nothing more that can be done,” says Weichel.

States in dire straits

At the end of last year, Kaiserslautern obtained a three-month allocation freeze from the state government, which, however, was not extended, as Weichel describes. More refugees are coming, more than 200 since January alone. Like District Administrator Hallerbach, he also sees the federal states in a predicament in which they no longer know how to deal with the high number of refugees.

The state governments should expect answers to this at the refugee summit today with the Federal Minister of the Interior. The municipal umbrella organizations are also represented and are demanding, among other things, that the federal government develop its own reception capacities for refugees. Above all, it’s about the money. The federal government has made 2.75 billion euros available to the federal states and local authorities for the current year; for 2022 it was 3.5 billion euros. However, the central municipal organizations have long been demanding that the federal government agree to fully cover the costs of accommodation and care for the refugees instead of flat rates.

“At the end of the ability to integrate”

“I agree with the demand that the refinancing rate must be 100 percent,” says Kaiserslautern’s Lord Mayor Weichel. But that doesn’t solve the problem either, and the accommodation alone is not enough anyway. Social care is also needed, i.e. more staff in administration, in daycare centers and schools. “Our school social workers walk on the gums,” says Weichel. “We have declared ourselves a safe haven,” he sums up the situation, “but we have reached the end of our ability to accommodate and integrate.”

Back to the district of Neuwied, in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate. Money is not the main problem, says District Administrator Hallerbach, but capacity. The announcement from Berlin to make available federal real estate available for accommodation also came to nothing – it simply doesn’t exist locally.

The housing problem is also illustrated by a gymnasium in Neuwied, in which 220 refugees are housed. In the beginning, they had to wait around two weeks to find accommodation, but it now takes months. Helpers on site say that some of them even turn up twice in the collective accommodation: the first time when they arrive here fleeing – and a second time when the local landlords stop being helpful.

A new flight movement is in the offing

In Bad Hönningen, the place where the container village is located a few kilometers away, another one is likely to be added. But finding a location is difficult for the municipality. In addition, the cost of the containers has skyrocketed.

The situation with the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to worsen even further, says refugee coordinator Schmitz. “Ultimately, we need a lot more social housing,” she says, especially when a new large movement of refugees is imminent. In any case, another container village should no longer be enough.