Refugees in Bavaria: “The communities can no longer” – Dachau

District administrator, mayor, representatives of Caritas, job centers, police and local administrations – they are all alarmed against the background of newly arriving refugees in the district of Dachau and call on the federal and state governments to finally act. The state government is currently allocating new refugees to the district every two weeks. But there are too few accommodations to accommodate people at short notice. On the other hand, the authorities and municipalities lack the capacity to integrate asylum seekers in the coming months. Nonetheless, the support groups are explicitly opposed to an “immigration freeze”. They resist the “the boat is full” rhetoric and promote finding creative solutions to the problem.

According to the district office, the existing accommodations are almost completely occupied. The authority is working on renting further accommodation, but cannot rule out the “at least temporary occupancy of gymnasiums or other emergency accommodation”, according to a press release. Over the Christmas holidays, it was possible to rent larger accommodation in Vierkirchen. From the middle to the end of February, this will initially offer around 80 places. “However, this does not even cover the current number of allocations for a month,” according to the district office. That is why they are planning to create 350 more places in new container facilities in Dachau and Markt Indersdorf. The leasing of other existing properties is also being pushed.

“I am totally shocked that the message has now been sent out in this way.”

Because of the tense situation, District Administrator Stefan Löwl (CSU) convened the “Round Table on Asylum in the Dachau District” for a meeting in the district office for the first time after 2015/16, when the district had to accommodate many asylum seekers at the same time. 45 experts, including mayors and spokespersons for aid groups, attended the meeting. The district office announced after the meeting that the responsible authorities were not aware of the threat of excessive demands on the local ability to integrate with all the negative effects at the state and federal level.

Vierkirchen’s Mayor Harald Dirlenbach (SPD) emphasized that the municipalities in particular are required after the refugees have been received for the first time. “We are responsible for ensuring that people can also integrate here in the district,” says Dirlenbach. This requires housing, voluntary helper groups, childcare places in day care centers and schools, jobs, language courses and much more. “All these parameters are finite and we have now almost exhausted them.” The district office estimates that 650 apartments are missing for refugees who have been living in the district for years. Many of them have to continue to live in communal accommodation or homeless shelters.

“We cannot close our eyes to the refugee issue in the world.”

Richard Reischl (CSU), Mayor of Hebertshausen, is quoted by the district office as saying: “The government has learned nothing from the wave of refugees in 2015. Today we are making the same mistakes again.” The asylum procedures would take too long and integration would be made more difficult by the scarcity of living space and a lack of care. According to the district office, Indersdorf’s mayor Franz Obesser (CSU) also said: “We help where we can, but only as much as we can. And in some areas, especially housing and childcare, we communities can no longer do it.”

After the “round table” meeting with 45 participants, the district office sent out a press release on Friday, which is now irritating the members of the helper groups. Two messages can be seen between the lines in the letter: the district can no longer take in refugees, and the federal government in particular is now obliged to provide support. The press release also quotes Joachim Jacob, spokesman for the helper groups in the Dachau district: “The situation is dramatic and we feel that Berlin is not taking enough notice of us. Berlin must act.”

Circles of helpers feel left out

However, as Peter Barth from the Hebertshausen volunteer group asked SZ Dachau announced that the helper groups did not want to agree to the press release from the district office and asked for a postponement until Sunday in order to consult internally and formulate an opinion. “I’m totally shocked that the message was sent out like this,” says Barth. “With this press release, we are signaling to society that we can no longer cope with the refugee problem. And that’s not true.”

The helper circles would recognize that the communities were in need. “But we are firmly against an immigration freeze or an upper limit.” Creative ideas and constructive contributions are needed to solve the problem. “We can’t shut ourselves off from the refugee issue in the world, it will keep preoccupying us.”

It is not the first time that there have been conflicts between the district office and the helper groups. Most recently, the asylum workers had made serious allegations against the district office and district administrator Stefan Löwl (CSU) for his restrictive deportation policy.

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