Because Bavarian host families need rooms again: Ukrainians in need - "Then we'll move to the gym"
Created: 07/26/2022, 22:01
By: Cornelia Schramm
Happiness with an expiration date: Oleksandr Riumin, his wife Iryna and his son Misha must have found a new home by the end of the week.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
Around 100,000 Ukrainians have found accommodation in private households in Bavaria.
More and more host families need their rooms back.
It is almost impossible for the refugees to find an apartment.
Königsdorf - temporary happiness - that's what Oleksandr Riumin, his wife Iryna and their seven-year-old son Misha have often experienced in recent months.
After fleeing the Ukraine, the family found accommodation in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district.
First in a hotel, then in a holiday apartment and then in a two-room apartment in Königsdorf.
But this time, too, her luck has an expiry date.
The family has to move out – by August 1st.
Riumin is sitting at the kitchen table and clicking through ads on housing portals on his mobile phone.
"It was always clear that we would only be able to live here until the end of July for our own needs," says the 33-year-old.
"We were warmly welcomed and are very grateful." Riumin has been a physiotherapist at the Buchberg Clinic in Tölz since July.
He found work, but not an apartment.
He has been sending out applications every day for two and a half months.
He received 15 rejections.
"Most landlords don't get back to you.
It's difficult because we don't have any valid Schufa information."
War in Ukraine: Many refugees are urgently looking for a permanent home
Many Ukrainians in Bavaria are in the same situation as Oleksandr and Iryna.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, around 148,000 refugees have arrived in Bavaria since the beginning of the war - and these are only the registered ones.
It is estimated that two-thirds of them are staying privately, but most of them only temporarily.
Only 1,600 refugees arrived in the first two weeks of July (compared to 73,500 in March).
You, but also many Ukrainians who have been here for months, are now urgently looking for an apartment.
Geretsrieder Vitalijs Glibickis has been on the lookout for apartments for refugees in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district since March.
"I suspected that the situation would be dramatic in the summer.
Hotels and holiday apartments are now in high season, which is why the offers were only limited,” says the 34-year-old.
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter.
The district office also reports: "The need for housing is increasing continuously, since rental contracts are only temporary and are expiring." Since only 482 of the 1,613 Ukrainians live in the gyms in Tölz and Wolfratshausen, in hotels and other state-rented accommodation, housing is urgent required - since private offers are now often omitted.
Fugitive Ukrainians in Bavaria: many districts
Other counties are also alarmed.
"We are looking for larger objects in order to be able to accommodate people in an emergency," says Starnberg District Administrator Stefan Frey (CSU).
Gyms are supposed to be the last resort.
"Among other things, we renovated an old factory and office building in Gauting for 100,000 euros, up to 120 people could be accommodated here." 120 more places are still available in smaller accommodations.
"240 places sounds like a lot, but we're already receiving 30 inquiries a week from Ukrainians who are looking for an apartment," says Frey.
"We believe that there will soon be 50 and then we will quickly reach our limits." Because: Of the 2,030 Ukrainian refugees, 1,600 have found private accommodation in Starnberg.
"It was noble to provide housing, but it is understandable
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Frey feels let down by the federal government.
He takes over two thirds of the accommodation costs.
"A third is incurred by the municipality and it also has the difficult task of finding premises," says Frey.
He calls for more financial support and a fairer distribution of refugees in Bavaria.
“Our district accommodated 35 percent more refugees in private households than others.
If everyone stays here, it will be hundreds of thousands of euros that are missing from the district budget.”
War in Ukraine: City Council sees a problem with accommodation throughout Bavaria
The Bavarian Association of Cities saw this coming: "There are no figures yet, but we are noticing that it is becoming a problem throughout Bavaria," says a spokesman.
“The south with the greater Munich area is particularly affected.
There is a large Ukrainian community in the city – and the housing shortage is huge anyway.”
With broken German and Hartz IV, Ukrainians are not the first choice for many landlords, says Vitalijs Glibickis.
Despite this, Geretsrieder recently managed to do the impossible – and found an apartment for a single Ukrainian woman and her daughter.
"They wanted to stay here, but didn't have a chance," he says.
"Now they have moved to Unterschleißheim." A hard step for the woman, in Geretsried they had already made friends.
Children go to school, learn German and make friends - and their parents work.
It is the same with Riumin and his family.
The three don't want to move too far away.
"I love my job in the clinic and Iryna, as a qualified psychologist and English teacher, runs a welcome class in Geretsried." If they don't find an apartment in the next few days, there's no choice: "Then we'll move to the gym in Wolfratshausen," says Riumin .
Hopefully just an emergency solution with an expiry date.
You can help?
If you have an apartment that you want to rent to Oleksandr and Iryna Riumin, please contact us: cornelia.schramm@merkur.de
You can find more current news from the region around Wolfratshausen at Merkur.de/Wolfratshausen.