(Symbolic photo: Leonhard Niederwimmer on Pixabay) The city should accommodate at least 86 people per week by the end of the year
The city of Frankfurt expects to allocate at least 86 refugees per week by the end of the year. Elke Voitl, head of the social and health department, therefore wants to restart the critical infrastructure as quickly as possible. “The situation is – to put it bluntly – challenging,” said the city councilor on Wednesday, October 18th. Voitl assumes that even large emergency shelters may have to be put back into operation at least as central arrival points.
“The city of Frankfurt is a safe haven and last year took in far more refugees than were assigned to it. Therefore, there have been no allocations so far this year. That gave us a little buffer,” said Voitl. Currently (as of October 9, 2023), a total of 4,910 refugees and 3,827 homeless people live in the city’s 67 transitional accommodations and 33 rented hotels. A good 18,000 more refugees have to be distributed across Hesse in the fourth quarter. This means that the number has doubled nationwide compared to the previous quarter.
Frankfurt’s housing market offers little chance
Since the refugee movement in 2016, two emergency shelters have been operated on behalf of the city of Frankfurt, the hall spaces of which are currently empty. The city has continued to keep them for safety reasons. “That was a good and forward-looking decision that will now help us,” said Voitl. “But there are still far too many people living in the other transitional accommodation who simply cannot find their own apartment with their own rental agreement. The Frankfurt housing market hardly offers them any chance either.” That is why the city of Frankfurt has been building as many temporary accommodations as possible for years and improving the general conditions in existing accommodations.
Among other things, accommodation in the Bockenheim district has currently been converted with a total of around 200 residential units. Families with children will also be able to be accommodated there in the future. Residents can also cook for themselves and eat together in the renovated rooms. Until now, they had to prepare their meals in a makeshift tent next to the house. In addition to the 15 room groups for families, there are 12 to 15 square meter single rooms whose residents share communal kitchens. The facility is operated by the German Red Cross (DRK) Frankfurt.
“In the accommodation for refugees in Bockenheim, together with the city of Frankfurt, we have managed to significantly improve the living conditions of the local people by converting the kitchens and sanitary facilities. What is certain is that the continued high number of refugees will continue to pose major challenges for all of us in the future. We at the DRK Frankfurt are happy to continue to support the city of Frankfurt with our many years of experience in the accommodation and care of refugees and those at risk of homelessness as well as in the areas of social advice and language acquisition,” said Holger Christ, accommodation team leader at the DRK Frankfurt.
New accommodation in Bonames
An accommodation with 35 residential units was also opened in Bonames, which is also operated by the DRK. It offers space for around 90 people. In Schwanheim, accommodation was converted to provide accommodation for up to seven people. It is operated by the Diakonie Frankfurt and Offenbach. “Accommodating large families in particular is a big problem. With the renovation of the accommodation by the city of Frankfurt, we as the Evangelical Regional Association of Frankfurt and Offenbach can make operations a little easier,” said Sabine Kalinock, head of the escape and integration department.
Community accommodation is divided into emergency and transitional accommodation. Emergency shelters are usually halls in which people are accommodated for a short time in a small space with little privacy and are provided with the bare essentials. From there they are taken to temporary accommodation as quickly as possible. There are also a variety of offers of help for social integration there. Refugees and homeless people usually stay in transitional accommodation until they have found their own apartment.
(Text: PM City of Frankfurt)
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