The accommodation for refugees on Echinger Weg in Garching is being expanded. In addition to the existing container hotel, further modern residential modules for 199 people are to be built. The Garching city council unanimously agreed to a corresponding request from the district, but limited the approval to five years.
The property on the northern edge of the Garching urban area, with a view of fields and the research campus of the Technical University of Munich, belongs to the Catholic Church. The Munich District Office rented it eight years ago to accommodate some of the people who fled in 2015 and 2016, especially from Syria and African countries. Currently about 160 people live there, mostly families.
Some local politicians are quite skeptical about the fact that this location is now to become the place of residence for almost 200 more refugees. In a statement for the city council, the spokeswoman for Garching’s Asylum Helpers’ Group, Nicola Gerhardt, also warns of “ghettoisation”. To counteract this, the Garching helpers demand that the accommodation should have a manager when it opens, who will instruct and advise the residents on the house rules. The District Attorney’s Office said so. In addition, Gerhardt suggests developing the new accommodation separately; According to the current plan, a small wall on the property visually separates the container buildings from each other.
“It is the most sensible, fastest possible and most cost-effective option.”
From Gerhardt’s point of view, the fact that the location is already established in the village and has proven itself speaks for the expansion of the accommodation on Echinger Weg. Two supermarkets are within easy reach, and the subway can also be reached on foot in a few minutes. Mayor Dietmar Gruchmann (SPD) referred to the practical aspects: “It is the most sensible, fastest possible and most cost-effective option.”
The new modular accommodation should be more modern than the previous ones. Three rooms are grouped around a common room and a bathroom with toilet. In addition to communal kitchens, there will also be lounges in the complex. Gruchmann promised that the new accommodation would give families who have been living on Echinger Weg a long time the opportunity to move into the newly built rooms. In this case, demanded Ulrike Haerendel (SPD), the district should definitely take the opportunity and renovate the existing accommodation.
With regard to occupancy, city councilors and the group of helpers emphasized that the childcare facilities in Garching were already being overstretched. An influx of other families with small children would be a major challenge.
Everyone agreed on one point: they didn’t want to differentiate people in Garching into first and second class refugees, but wanted to provide everyone with the best possible care. This was also emphasized by Claudio Cumani from the city’s integration advisory board, who is involved in looking after the refugees alongside the group of helpers.