In Regensburg there is a controversial discussion about the construction of a large emergency housing complex for the homeless.
This has already been decided, but the responsible social mayor favors a decentralized solution with smaller units.
Regensburg - It has been a controversial topic within the coalition in the Regensburg * town hall for months: the planned new construction of the emergency housing complex in the Konradsiedlung in the north of the city. It is undisputed that something has to happen there. The condition of the 1950s building on Aussiger Strasse is deplorable.
There is no sensible heating, the few showers in the basement currently have to be shared by 131 people who live in 74 apartments - single parents with children, people with drug and alcohol problems, recognized refugees who have not yet found an apartment.
Formally, they are considered homeless - the accommodation on Aussiger Straße is actually only intended as a temporary solution.
In fact, the average length of stay is currently around seven years.
Almost half of the residents are minors.
Criticism of the emergency housing complex in Regensburg: Mayor for decentralized accommodation
In 2020, the city council therefore unanimously decided to build a new emergency housing complex - at that time with the vote of CSU city councilor Astrid Freudenstein. Since the local elections, the 47-year-old has also been the responsible social mayor - and in this capacity she is moving away from the project. She favors decentralized accommodation for the homeless in smaller units spread across the city. “Children in particular shouldn't grow up in an emergency shelter,” she says.
So far, Freudenstein has not received any support within the coalition - the SPD parliamentary group had criticized the mayor's advance in the media in the past.
This would "possibly arouse hopes in those affected, of whom today nobody knows whether they can be fulfilled".
However, Freudenstein receives support from the chairman of the Regensburg Social Initiatives, Reinhard Kellner.
“Nobody asked us when the decision was made to build the new building,” he says.
Above all, “in the interests of the 51 children living there”, a decentralized concept is better suited “to get them out of the vicious circle of poverty and neglect” than a 23 million euro new building, according to Kellner.
"Right now, the only way to experience alcoholism and arguments is by looking out the window."
Criticism of the emergency housing complex in Regensburg: "No longer accept everything without a sound or a singing"
Freudenstein is currently also backing a citizens' initiative.
The "BI Regensburg Nord - Konradsiedlung" was founded in May to give more emphasis to the concerns of the residents.
“We are simply no longer ready to accept everything without a sound,” says BI chairman Dagmar Brauner, who has lived in the district for 26 years.
As an individual citizen, you usually get no response from the city to letters “as sad as it is”.
That is why they got together, formulated common demands and collected signatures.
On Monday the letter went to Freudenstein and the parliamentary groups in the Regensburg city council.
"Centralizing the emergency housing complex for people in precarious life situations neither promotes their social integration, nor does one show these people a life perspective and positive role models (...)," it says.
A good 40 local residents have signed.
"With the finished letter we only collected in the immediate vicinity of the residential complex," says Brauner, who believes, however, that many Regensburg residents can identify with the basic requirements.
Criticism of the emergency housing complex in Regensburg: fear of "ghettoization"
The BI does not speak out against building new apartment blocks in principle. But: "If a new emergency housing complex is already being planned here, why not try to mix the 'social structure' and bring in and realize social housing so that the residents are also mixed." This was also the case in Humboldtstrasse, for example - which used to be considered a social hotspot - works very well. Such a model, “mixed living space” for families, needy people and migrants, should also be implemented in other parts of the city. This is the only way to adequately guarantee integration. A purely emergency housing complex, however, would lead to “ghettoization”.
Reinhard Kellner from the Social Initiatives argues in a similar way.
He points out that there used to be three large emergency housing complexes on Humboldtstrasse, which were successfully dismantled in the course of the local urban development measures.
Previously, Humboldtstrasse had been “labeled” similarly to Aussiger Strasse.
The experience there has shown that appropriate, targeted staffing is also required in order to cope with such problems - social workers and educators.
Criticism of the emergency housing complex in Regensburg: Mayor wants to meet with residents
Mayor Freudenstein now wants to meet the residents.
"It is not surprising that after decades in the direct vicinity of a large central emergency housing complex in the area there are certain 'defensive reflexes' against a new building in the same place," she tells our editorial team.
Emergency accommodation must therefore always retain the character of a “temporary solution”: especially for those affected. “Our goal is always integration into the regular housing market.” The coalition is currently exploring alternative options for accommodation.
One is "in a very good exchange".
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