The capacities for accommodating refugees from the Ukraine are reaching the limit in NRW. Financing is no longer possible. The federal and state governments are required.
The Association of Towns and Municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia is urgently demanding more support from the federal and state governments, ideally a one-to-one reimbursement of costs for the accommodation of refugees from the Ukraine. The burden is already “immense” and will continue to increase, said the general manager of the NRW Association of Towns and Municipalities, Christof Sommer, on Friday on WDR.
The financing system previously agreed with the state is no longer sufficient. “We were a bit disappointed with what the Prime Ministers’ Conference agreed with the Chancellor yesterday under Item 18: A working group has been set up. Something should be in place by April 7. There could have been a little more,” Sommer said in the interview.
Significantly more children than in 2015
Unlike the refugee movement in 2015, this time “at least 50 percent” of the refugees are children, Sommer said. This has an impact on the accommodation and later daycare and school places are required. The prices for necessary equipment for accommodation have already exploded in some cases on the market. The six-month rent for a washing container shot up from 7,000 euros to over 30,000 euros within a week.
The distribution among the municipalities is very uneven. Dormagen – between the cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf – has already taken in a large number of refugees. According to local reports, Dortmund is also extremely popular – apparently because many people know the Borussia Dortmund football club, Sommer said.
Residence requirement conceivable
“There must be a more even distribution among the municipalities, because some are overburdened, while others still have capacity,” said Sommer. “With all freedom of movement and all rights, you have to think about how that can work. We had the best experiences back then with the residence requirement. People have to go to a municipality, even if they don’t know it.”
The day before, the President of the Association of Towns and Municipalities and Mayor of the City of Soest, Eckhard Ruthemeyer, made a similar statement in the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger” and made it clear: “Of course, the families should be able to stay where they have already found connections and accommodation. It is particularly about the many thousands of people who are yet to come.”
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