Weilheim is getting old - and has to do something for its seniors

Created: 06/27/2022, 02:00 p.m

By: Magnus Reitinger

Weilheim's city council is giving more thought to "senior-friendly neighborhood development".

© Symbolic picture: IMAGO/Dirk Sattler

Does Weilheim need a "social caretaker" for seniors?

The city wants to clarify this over the next few months in talks and workshops on "senior-friendly neighborhood development".

The main committee of the city council agreed: the topic is urgent.

Weilheim – district development, district management, district concept: these are bulky terms that swirled through the main committee meeting this week.

However, why Weilheim could need something like this is obvious: society is aging rapidly.

The younger age groups are getting thinner and thinner in the graphs of demographic development, while the number of over-60s is increasing massively.

It's about short distances, for example

This is a real challenge for the municipalities.

It is important to design the "social area" of the residents in such a way that older and disabled people can remain in their familiar living environment.

This requires counseling services, social networks and outpatient help, not only for the seniors themselves, but also for their relatives.

And apartments as well as districts must be planned barrier-free, with short distances and local amenities.

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Neighborhood management is all about all this and more.

In this case, the district is the whole town of Weilheim, as explained by Stephanie Hör and Lisa Merlonetti from the senior citizens’ department in the district office.

They presented to the main committee what a “social carer” could do in the city.

As a “low-threshold contact person”, this should, for example, network existing offers and make them known to those affected.

In the municipality of Bernried, such a carer is already "very well received".

In Penzberg, too, there will soon be a corresponding 20-hour position for a social worker, added Caritas Managing Director Thomas Koterba.

His association has already signed a cooperation agreement with the city there.

And Caritas would also be a potential sponsor for Weilheim;

Families would also benefit

The Caritas district association had already applied in 2020 to set up a "senior citizens' office" in Weilheim - which, according to the city administration, "was not pursued further at the time due to the difficult budgetary situation".

Now Brigitte Holeczek (BfW), as the city council's senior citizens' officer, has submitted a similar application, namely for the implementation of neighborhood management.

She referred to funding opportunities: the Free State of Bavaria would contribute a total of 80,000 euros as start-up funding over a maximum of four years.

The prerequisite for this is the creation of a district concept from which not only senior citizens would benefit, but also families and people with disabilities.

"We see it as an offer for everyone," said Merlonetti.

A part-time job is realistic for Weilheim.

The city must first expect a financial contribution of around 20 percent.

But it should also be ensured how things will continue after the four years of funding.

A year-long process begins

A one-year process with talks, workshops and citizen participation should show whether such neighborhood management is appropriate for Weilheim.

The coordination center “Housing in old age” financed by the Bavarian Ministry of Social Affairs supports this;

the city incurs only minor costs in this phase.

The Board voted unanimously to go ahead with this process.

This means that no preliminary decision has been made to create a position, as was emphasized.

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We can't just think in roofs and halls, we also have to take care of the people in Weilheim.

Brigitte Holeczek (BfW), Senior Citizens' Advisor to the Weilheim City Council

But everyone agreed that the need was great.

"I am firmly convinced that we will need that in Weilheim," said Holeczek.

In the current financial situation, it was "an extremely unfavorable time to initiate such a project," admitted the senior citizens' adviser and BfW parliamentary group spokeswoman: "But we can't just think in roofs and halls, we also have to take care of the people in Weilheim .” The city alone cannot shoulder such a district management, “but in cooperation it is possible”.

Investors also want to participate in the financing later on?

"I have no doubts about the need," said CSU spokeswoman and social officer Marion Lunz-Schmieder.

But she was skeptical as to whether a separate position in Weilheim would ultimately be necessary for this: "The current motto is to be as economical as possible." It is therefore important "to define the goals and the timeline very precisely," stressed Karl- Heinz Grehl (Greens), so that the project does not ultimately "dumber along".

For Petra Arneth-Mangano (SPD), it is clear that the process that has now been initiated is “only a beginning”: investors in large construction projects should also be involved in the subsequent financing;

they would have to create appropriate consultation rooms.