Social counselor with a gloomy prognosis: "Poverty will only get worse"

Created: 05/02/2022, 08:35

By: Doris Richter

The pandemic has also hit many children hard.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa

More district citizens than before are taking advantage of Caritas' social counseling services.

An expert predicts in an interview: "Poverty will only get worse."

County – The pandemic made many people in the county dependent on government help for the first time.

For others who have already needed help, the situation has become even more difficult.

Gwendolyn Schweizer also feels this.

Since January 1, 2019, she has been offering social counseling for Caritas in the district, together with four colleagues.

Since Corona, they have even more to do than before.

We live here in Munich's commuter belt.

It can't be that far away with the need...

Well, not all that glitters is gold.

And the spectrum of people who come to me for advice is large.

Who exactly is reporting?

Very different topics strike me.

From A for unemployment to Z for co-payment exemption.

No day is the same, no request like the other.

When it comes to securing a livelihood, I take care of myself. In the event of separation, divorce, traumatic experiences, threatened homelessness, debts or similar, I mediate to internal and external specialist agencies.

What do you do to secure livelihoods?

The most important thing is that people don't lose their homes and learn to manage with their money.

In addition to financial help, it is also about creating a social network and communicating strategies for everyday life.

For example, to dock the single mother with the offers of help that are available for her.

Or to give someone who has only recently been living on Hartz IV the best way to budget with 449 euros a month.

That's not a lot of money and if you weren't used to it before, you really have to adapt.

In the Corona crisis, many lost their livelihoods and had to apply for help.

Did you notice that?

It was actually a whole bunch that got in touch with me and my colleagues.

People who got into trouble as a result of the pandemic and had to apply for housing benefit and child allowance - which they never needed before.

But there were two groups.

Which?

On the one hand, the people who had previously made ends meet with their income, for example in gastronomy.

Who can usually manage their lives themselves, “doers” type.

I can often help them with an e-mail address or telephone number.

They then get themselves back on track.

It's different for people who have been dependent on state aid for a long time and then lost their mini-job during the pandemic.

In what way?

Some of them are so desperate that they need someone to say, "Come here, we'll do this together." When I have to struggle with many so-called placement obstacles anyway, such as poor knowledge of German, low level of education, illiteracy - and then the mini-job breaks away - these people need support.

Did many of your clients work in the classic sectors that were hit particularly hard by the crisis?

In any case.

During the consultation, I had a lot of cleaning staff, people who had unskilled jobs in the catering trade or canteen kitchens, employees from security services for events or even museum guards.

There were also students who lost their mini-job and whose parents were also on short-time work, when it came to the question, can they continue studying at all?

Gwendolyn Schweizer advises a lot by phone, but also on site in Taufkirchen.

© Doris Richter

Staying with the cleaning staff – how do you help there?

First of all, it must be checked whether the person is entitled to state aid.

How much does the partner earn, do you have children?

I then accompany the entire application process, including the procurement of all forms and documents.

If help is approved and the notification is available, then we look together at the financial leeway that arises as a result.

For example, exemption from GEZ fees, health insurance co-payments, after-school care fees, you can apply for education and participation packages for the children so that the costs for the sports club are covered.

Sounds like a lot of work.

And this is not a one-time process.

This is approved for a year and then the whole thing starts all over again.

Even if the further approval order is not quite as complex.

How long have people been consulting with you?

Some come only once, others once a month and others we accompany over several years - depending on the situation.

In addition to the processing time in the authorities, this also depends on how easy it is for people to bring the necessary documents over.

Whether they end up in a jumbled mess in the Ikea bag on my desk or are neatly filed away.

My goal is to empower people to help themselves.

Giving them a red line to shimmy along.

With the backup: I'll help if or better before something goes wrong.

Sounds like there's a lot of help out there, but it's not that easy for anyone to get hold of.

Is our help system too bureaucratic?

I think it's great that there's so much help out there.

Unfortunately, many do not know what support options they have.

But the jump into this system is actually not that easy.

Such a varied application for someone who has never done anything like this is a hurdle.

But a lot of help is tax-financed.

There is already a duty towards the taxpayer to check carefully whether someone actually needs them.

Has the pandemic made it even more difficult for HartzIV recipients?

I think so.

Because prices are going up everywhere.

Food and electricity are becoming more expensive.

And what is not taken into account at all: the costs for health care, for FFP2 masks, corona self-tests and costs incurred by looking after the children at home during the lockdown.

Copy paper, printer cartridges, meals that otherwise accumulated in the lunchtime care or after-school care.

Corona is an additional item that is not taken into account anywhere.

There was a one-off payment for the needy in 2020, but it has long since been used up three times.

Were there particularly severe cases in the past year where you thought help would come just in time?

It's actually too late for everyone who contacts me.

I always think to myself, why didn't you come three months earlier, then you could have set the course differently beforehand.

It is always particularly dramatic when children are involved.

For example, when a family is threatened with losing their home, becoming homeless.

Is the shame too great?

Yes, it's about shame, desperation, self-loathing, fear of what the neighbors will say.

I then try to take away the feeling from people that they are supplicants.

To convey to them that it deserves great respect that they dare to take the step and seek help.

Do many families come to you?

It balances.

Many families, but also many individuals.

Lots of retirees.

Poverty in old age is a big issue.

And loneliness.

Nobody has to starve here with us.

The problem is that people who don't have enough money are often left out.

Not participating in social life.

If you then stand by and watch when the other three scoops eat ice cream and I don't.

Or the others go to the cinema and I can't pay for it.

Or there is a trip for seniors to Tegernsee, but I can't afford the train ticket.

In the long run, people then withdraw.

And that's not healthy.

That's the dangerous thing about having to live on social benefits in the long run.

When you look to the future, where is the journey going?

I think there will be more people living in poverty.

We are pinning our hopes on the coalition agreements that were concluded where a reform of social services was promised.

More news from the district of Munich can be found here.