Berlin
Retirement home now accommodates refugees: the seniors have been fired
The nursing home still accommodates around 100 residents and is located on Wedding’s Müllerstraße. (Iconic image)
© Philipp Znidar / Picture Alliance
Cities and communities are reaching their limits when it comes to accommodating refugees. The rededication of a nursing home in the Berlin district of Wedding causes a stir. The landlord is accused of profit maximization, 100 nursing home residents have to move.
This article first appeared on ntv.de
Around 100 residents of a nursing home in the Berlin district of Wedding have to vacate their home. According to media reports, the landlord is accommodating refugees in their place. Both the operator of the retirement home and the landlord belong to the Berlin Diakonie as church institutions. According to a report by “Focus”, the landlord prefers migrants and asylum seekers because their housing is much more lucrative than nursing care for the elderly due to public subsidies.
Berlin: moving out of seniors was a long-established matter
The Johannisstift confirmed to the newspaper “Welt” on Monday evening that the Wedding home “Pflege & Wohnen Schillerpark” on Müllerstrasse would be closed. The reason given by the operator was an increase in the rent that the Paul Gerhardt Stift, as the owner of the property, had demanded. Therefore, an “early termination of the rental and lease agreements” was agreed. The remaining 100 or so residents had to and still have to move out, but this had been foreseeable since 2021, the report said.
According to the newspaper report, the landlord assured the evangelical news agency epd that the decision to accommodate refugees in the former nursing home was only made after the contract with the Johannisstift had ended prematurely. The Paul Gerhardt Stift also rejected the accusation that they wanted to generate higher income through the conversion and referred to the great need in Berlin. With decades of experience in refugee work, the Paul Gerhardt Stift will support the state of Berlin with the question of housing refugees, according to the official press release. The first refugees are said to have moved into Müllerstrasse at the beginning of February.
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Most recently, the accommodation of migrants in Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, caused a stir. Around 40 people are to move out of an outdated residential complex to make room for refugees. The municipal housing company is to provide tenants with more modern and affordable housing options. A corresponding letter from the housing association to the tenants had triggered broad debates on social networks since the beginning of the week.
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