Refugee accommodation: Occupied gyms continue to be criticized

Created: 03.12.2022, 17:00

By: Stephen Hank

Still inhabited by refugees: the gymnasium of the Miesbach vocational school.

© Archive TP

The issue of refugee accommodation in the district of Miesbach is driving local politicians.

The topic came up again during the budget deliberations in the district committee.

District

– The topic of refugee accommodation drives the local politicians.

The topic came up again during the budget deliberations (we reported).

The mayor of Rottach and CSU parliamentary group spokesman Christian Köck was concerned about the occupancy of the gyms.

Irrespective of the burden on the athletes, using it as accommodation not only entails renovation costs, but in the long term the gyms are simply not suitable.

"It is an unsatisfactory situation for all sides when buses arrive here without much notice and the district has to accommodate people quickly," he said.

"It would be good if other government districts were made more responsible."

According to the distribution key, there are even too few refugees in the Miesbach district

District administrator Olaf von Löwis (CSU) shared Köck's view, but referred to the applicable distribution key, according to which the district currently accommodates too few refugees.

"The higher authorities only see the deficit here, not the situation on site," said Löwis regretted.

It is not foreseeable that anything will change on the key.” At the moment, the district has no choice but to occupy the gyms.

As is well known, container villages are planned in Hausham and Holzkirchen, but realistically they cannot be expected to go into operation before mid-2023.

Löwis: "Until then, I have no positive messages."

In this context, Andreas Hallmannsecker (FWG) was bothered by the strict regulations.

"You'd think there would be enough vacant houses and farms, but fire safety always fails," lamented the former Valley Mayor.

In an emergency, one could possibly react with emergency measures and interpret the regulations - within the legal framework - a little more generously: "There are possibilities for exemption in many areas."

No prospect of exemption from regulations

Department head Maria Rode gave him no hope.

“The law provides for many exemptions.

But when it comes to life and limb, they don't exist," she clarified.

"We have no leeway." Löwis confirmed that: "Simple regulations would be nice, but if something happens, it's our turn." The district administrator assured that his authority would do everything possible to acquire housing for refugees.

However, not every property that looks good from the outside is really suitable.

"It's not just about fire protection, but also about heating and plumbing," he explained.

In this context, the district administrator appealed to the mayor and the population to report possible objects including contact persons to the district authority.

"It's not up to us.

We follow up on every tip and check it out, ”he assured.

Christine Negele (SPD) spoke out in favor of exhausting the legal framework and examining confiscations of vacant properties.

There are many former hotels in the district that are empty.

The administration was skeptical because there are high legal hurdles before confiscation.

According to District Treasurer Gerhard de Biasio, even hotels could not be easily converted into refugee accommodation.

“Fire protection has been raised to the level of social facilities.

Weaknesses are not to be expected.”

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