Sparkasse Munich and Görtz lock out the homeless
Created: 12/15/2022, 8:58 am
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
The Stadtsparkasse München is under fire on Twitter for a blocking device against homeless people.
(symbol photo) © Sigi Jantz
In the current cold, homeless people often seek shelter in the entrances to shops or in bank branches.
Some companies are taking action.
This caused outrage on social media.
Munich – Around 263,000 people in Germany do not have a solid roof over their heads.
This emerges from the first homelessness report presented by the federal government on Thursday.
With the current wintry temperatures, people in particular who have to live on the streets are having a really hard time.
Especially in the big cities, many of those affected seek protection at night in the entrances to shops or in the anterooms of bank branches.
But this is a thorn in the side of some branches – they try different means to prevent the homeless from staying in front of or in their rooms.
Jags against the homeless: "Shame on you, Sparkasse Munich"
On Twitter, a picture from a Sparkasse Munich branch is causing outrage.
The photo posted by journalist Ronen Steinke shows an anteroom with ATMs from the Munich credit institute.
Inside is a grid on which spikes are attached - apparently so that the homeless cannot lie down there.
"Shame on you, Sparkasse Munich, for these post-mounted prongs.
If a homeless person wants to sleep in your counter room at night, it's not because he's doing too well," writes Steinke.
One user commented below: "I don't understand this with the anti-homeless infrastructure.
How heartless do you have to be to design something like that.” Another wrote: “If I didn't know better, this grille looks like you're trying to keep an animal away.
That is absolutely the last thing and simply has nothing to do with humanity.
It should be clear to everyone by now how quickly a person can slip.
I would switch banks.”
Another Twitter user shows a photo of a Görtz shoe store whose entrance area has been provided with barrier tape and nail boards.
She explains: “I recently came across an equally shabby variant at Görtz.
Not that anyone makes themselves too comfortable with temperatures just above zero.”
Sparkasse Munich: Major customer complaints at this location
Other users, on the other hand, express understanding for the measures: “On the other hand, there are hundreds of complaints from customers when the branch stinks, machines are blocked or customers no longer feel safe because drunk men are there while they want to withdraw cash.
There are better places to help the homeless!” commented one Twitter user.
Others argue that it is up to the municipalities, not the bank or retailers, to take care of the homeless.
The Stadtsparkasse Munich explained to
Merkur.de
that the branch on the Twitter photo is the advice center on Max-Weber-Platz.
The device was not installed at any other Stadtsparkasse Munich location.
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The device was installed a long time ago as part of a major renovation, a spokesman said.
There have repeatedly been "major customer complaints" at this location after the ATM room was used by the homeless and other groups as a place to stay.
Customers complained about a lack of security when making sensitive money transactions, especially in the evening hours.”
But you have “full understanding of the situation of the people who don’t have warm accommodation these days”.
However, there are special offers from the city "so that people who otherwise do not want to take up accommodation can go to safety," said the Stadtsparkasse München.
Anti-homeless architecture in squares and in front of shops
These spikes, barriers, and grates are part of what is known as “defensive architecture,” sometimes called anti-homeless architecture.
Among other things, squares or rooms are designed in such a way that the homeless or drug addicts can no longer or do not want to settle down, for example because spikes or bars prevent them from lying down.
However, these measures are highly controversial.
Critics complain that this does not solve problems such as homelessness, but at best pushes them out of sight.
But by no means all shops and banks lock out homeless people: the Sparkasse in Neunkirchen, for example, chose a completely different approach at the beginning of this year.
She purposely left the automatic doors open at night so the homeless could warm up indoors.
With material from the AFP
