There is an unwritten law in Munich, which Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter and Social Affairs Officer Dorothee Schiwy often emphasize: Anyone who arrives in the city is a Munich resident from day one. Despite the housing shortage and the steep rise in homelessness, nobody who does not specifically want to have to sleep on the street. The government of Upper Bavaria apparently thinks little of the Munich maxim. She has now vacated a communal accommodation in the west of Munich at short notice and distributed the refugees and families, some of whom were recognized, to other parts of the city and the Ebersberg district.
The reason: Within a few days, the government had to accommodate around 120 people who, as former Afghan local workers and their families, were now brought to safety in Germany. But why did families who have been living in the accommodation for years have to move out head over heels and just before Christmas?
The government’s argument is flimsy: It is right to say that the people who have now been brought to safety from the Taliban have a residence permit and are therefore entitled to their own living space. But so do the people who have previously lived in the run-down communal accommodation. This will be torn down in a year anyway. Why weren’t the refugees from the country ravaged by terrorism and war temporarily accommodated in Munich hotels or pensions? The city has done it again and again in emergencies such as the refugee autumn 2015 or in the pandemic when the virus broke out in refugee shelters.
The government of Upper Bavaria left the city government outside
However, it is completely incomprehensible that the government of Upper Bavaria did not contact the city leaders at an early stage to check how many people could be accepted in Munich in principle. After all, the city had already announced in mid-August that it would give refuge to 260 threatened people from Afghanistan. Mayor Verena Dietl even made an offer to the then Chancellor Angela Merkel by letter. In addition, Munich has been committed to the “Safe Haven” alliance since 2019 and supports, among other things, sea rescue in the Mediterranean.
Nevertheless, the government of Upper Bavaria did not send the city a request. Instead, children and adults were separated from their friends and torn from school so that other refugees could live there for a few weeks or months. The way the government treats people is shameful.