The district of Munich is once again shouldering a heavy burden. A good 4,600 refugees from the Ukraine have now arrived and found accommodation here – significantly more than the district would have to accommodate according to the Königstein key. And this burden can only be borne at the moment because civil society is bearing the lion’s share, because people are making housing available to refugees and Ukrainian families are taking in Ukrainian families in their own households. In the long run, however, this hospitality will not be enough to offer all the people here a temporary home. Significantly more new accommodations are needed – and they have to be paid for.
Like a mantra, District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) points out that a “connection” must be found for thousands of refugees who are currently still accommodated privately – i.e. accommodation if they have to move out of their previous refuge. Because no matter how great the wave of helpfulness is at the moment, it is also true that it will eventually ebb away, that hosts will no longer be hosts and families will want to withdraw to their privacy again.
But where should the refugees go then? The chances of finding affordable housing in the completely overheated housing market in the district of Munich were almost zero even before the outbreak of war in the Ukraine. The solution can only lie in decentralized accommodation, which now has to be set up quickly – and the district has already proven that it is capable of doing this. Homelessness has never been tolerated by district politicians, even if it costs them a lot of money and places a heavy burden on local authorities.
The federal and state governments have an obligation, both of which have so far relied on the municipal level somehow being able to meet the challenge of taking in refugees. Just like it worked in 2015. But the minimum would be if the federal and state governments take over the costs for the accommodation – in full.