Bavaria’s “anchor centers” for refugees are full – Bavaria

In Straubing it’s a bit of an upside-down world right now. Two gyms were recently occupied by refugees from Ukraine. “We are now in the process of clearing the gyms,” says Mayor Markus Pannermayr (CSU). The new accommodation, a former old people’s home, has been ready for occupancy since this Monday. The OB still doesn’t sound calm, on the contrary. First of all, he does not speak for Straubing alone, Pannermayr is President of the Association of Cities, he speaks for all Bavarian cities. And secondly, nobody in Straubing knows for sure whether the gyms will soon be needed again to accommodate more people.

One thing is certain: the anchor centers in Bavaria are at the limit. The number of refugees in Bavaria has risen sharply compared to last year, and not just because of the people from Ukraine. At the beginning of September, initial contact points for asylum seekers were occupied at an average rate of 105 percent, and 93 percent of the follow-up accommodation. Districts and municipalities are desperately looking for new living space. City Council President Pannermayr is therefore calling for more support for the municipalities from the federal government in coordination and financing. And before it comes to overload in winter, Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) calls out “stop” in the direction of Berlin as a precaution. Otherwise, the minister also warns, gymnasiums may have to serve as temporary accommodation again. But when it comes to Anker occupancy, 100 percent or more doesn’t necessarily mean the last bed is occupied.

The 105 percentage points refer to “the bed capacity that can be regularly occupied”, which is four fifths of all beds. “At 80 percent, full occupancy can be assumed in the anchor center,” says Michael Münchow, head of the Zirndorf anchor center. That’s because room allocation isn’t a Tetris game: “If I accommodate a family of four in a six-bed room, I can’t allocate two men traveling alone to the other beds.”

Not including Ukrainian war refugees, around 58,000 people seeking protection reached Bavaria between January and August, five times as many as in the same period last year. One third of the people come from Syria, almost one in five comes from Afghanistan, nine percent come from Iraq and ten percent from Turkey. At the request of the SZ, all Bavarian district governments announced that their anchor centers were busy or overloaded, measured against the benchmark of 80 percent. Only Swabia, with 70 percent, still has room to respond to the residents’ requests for occupancy. The tenor of the governments is that, above all, the relocation of residents must be guaranteed so that they remain receptive and operational in the coming months.

The centers are designed for maximum occupancy, but the “one in one out” concept no longer works, says Münchow, because there are no connecting accommodations. The situation in Zirndorf is now calmer than it was two months ago. A security guard says pointedly: “There was chaos here.” The reason for this was also the two-track admission procedure in Germany: While all refugees were registered and distributed nationwide via Easy (initial distribution of asylum seekers) until recently, the Free system now applies to Ukrainians. Before the software was introduced, Bavaria was 13,000 more people in the distribution statistics, including many Ukrainians: “Munich and Nuremberg in particular are geographically favorable and have large Ukrainian communities, where many refugees want to connect,” says Münchow. After the breakdown of free and easy, i.e. Ukrainians and other asylum seekers, the Free State was suddenly in the red at 4,000, and therefore had to be admitted.

Anyone who gets an idea of ​​the Zirndorf anchor center on the outskirts of Nuremberg will see Iad and Amany Rifay sitting in front of a small café. The oldest reception center in Germany is in Zirndorf, a former police building from the 1930s. The Rifay family traveled from Syria via Jordan, Libya, Italy and landed in the “anchor center” Bamberg in July. “It was bad. The treatment and the food. We’re glad we’re here now,” says Amany Rifay, holding one of her three children. On average, eight weeks elapse between arrival in Zirndorf and a decision or repatriation, as the abbreviation “anchor” dictates.

Refugees from the Ukraine no longer go through this intermediate station, but find accommodation more quickly in collective accommodation or private housing. How quickly they are transferred to state community accommodation or municipal apartments also depends on their country of origin and thus their prospects of staying. Zirndorf, for example, is the only “anchor center” in Bavaria that is responsible for people from Cuba. Daniela pauses briefly when asked how long she has been living here with her two children. “Wow, it’s been four months,” says the 35-year-old Cuban. As a journalist critical of the government, you would have expected up to five years in prison in your home country, she says. She wants to start a new life here. “They won’t tell us how long I have to wait here and feed the ducks in the city pond.” By “she” she means the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), which will decide on her asylum application.

Interior Minister Herrmann accuses the federal government of “abandoning the states” with the accommodation and warns that at the federal level with “massively enforced admission programs the situation will be further aggravated” or “set even more incentives for asylum seekers by improving services”. He doesn’t see the influx of Ukrainian war refugees as a primary problem, since it is “at a stable, manageable level.” But this “stable, manageable level” is now around one million. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has now reported the number of expelled Ukrainians to the Central Register of Foreigners. However, no one knows exactly how many there are in the country. A good part of these refugees could have moved on or returned.

City Council President Pannermayr has another concern. “Everything is really coming together now,” says the Straubing mayor. Inflation, energy crisis, even Corona have not yet completely settled. If the number of refugees increases sharply, “the acceptance situation and the inner peace in our society” have to be monitored closely. That will be “a challenge,” says Pannermayr.