Refugees in the Lower Allgäu: Will the gyms have to be occupied soon?

Created: 2022-12-16Updated: 2022-12-16 3:26 p.m

By: Melanie Springer-Restle

If the district does not find housing to meet its admission quota, the gymnasiums will have to be converted if necessary.

© THW Memmingen

Unterallgäu – The district office invited to a press conference on the subject of flight today.

The reason: The district does not sufficiently meet its admission requirements, but has almost no residential capacity for refugees.

In the worst case, emergency shelters have to be set up in gymnasiums. 

District Administrator Alex Eder was worried, as it is he who has to implement the government guidelines here in the district.

"If the influx continues like this, we have to go to the gyms," says Eder.

The whole problem has two dimensions: a global and a regional one.

From a global perspective, a relatively large number of refugees, currently mostly Ukrainians, come to Germany.

These are then distributed according to the so-called Königstein key.

This regulates how many refugees the individual countries have to take in.

The basis is the population and the respective tax revenue.

Tobias Ritschel, head of the department for civil status and foreigner affairs, presented a simple calculation example: If 1,000 refugees come to Germany and Bavaria has to take in 15.6 percent (160 people) of them according to the Königstein key, 14.4 percent (23 people) to Swabia and 7.6 percent (two people) to the district of Unterallgäu.

With an immigration of 1.4 million people a year, the Unterallgäu has to take in around 2,500 people.

Currently, the asylum quota in the Unterallgäu is 85 percent fulfilled, the accommodation of 170 people is still pending, according to Ritschel.

In the special case of Ukraine, the district only fulfilled 50 percent of its quota and currently has to take in 850 refugees.

The Unterallgäu currently has 62 decentralized accommodations (accommodating 15 to 20 people) as well as five community accommodations operated by the Swabian government.

1,200 refugees are currently living in the shelters, as well as 900 Ukrainians, most of whom live in private apartments.

There are also emergency shelters.

200 refugees are currently living in the former vaccination center in Bad Wörishofen.

Space for a good 370 people is to be created here.

Just yesterday, 30 Ukrainians were reassigned to the district, and next Tuesday 120 asylum seekers will arrive, explains Ritschel.

From January there will be 50 assignments per week.

The youth welfare office is currently looking after 28 (target quota: 37) unaccompanied minor refugees who were housed in rented private apartments.

District Administrator Eder would like to avoid occupying gyms in the district to meet the admission requirement.

"After Corona, the students have a right to their gyms.

The music clubs and bands should also be able to continue rehearsing there," says Eder.

The district administrator is annoyed with the federal government, which continues to signal that there are still sufficient capacities for refugees.

Germany is a country of secondary migration: refugees who have already arrived in safe countries travel on to Germany, presumably because the best social packages are available here.

Bavaria alone has taken in more refugees than all of France, Eder.

The rural districts, which in turn depend on their communities, have to implement the refugee policy.

However, they rarely support them.

The district would already be helped with the provision of land.

Here you can build accommodation in quick construction.

Also against the background that living space is scarce everywhere, Eder asks the municipalities for help.

Here's how you can help

• Apartments

The district is looking for apartments that can be rented directly to recognized asylum seekers and refugees from the Ukraine. Smaller apartments are also being sought.

Ukrainians are allowed to rent their own living space.

If they have no income of their own, they finance the apartments from the corresponding social benefits.

Anyone who can and would like to rent an apartment directly to Ukrainians can contact the district hotline on Tel. 08261/995-8008.

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My space

When asked by our editors why housing providers were not contacted promptly at the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, Eder admits that the mediation was a bit bumpy at first.

In the meantime, however, the coordination is working well.

The administration is currently working on a concept for centrally controlled housing procurement.

• Accommodation for unaccompanied minors

The youth welfare office is urgently looking for housing for underage, unaccompanied refugees - primarily apartments or houses for four to nine people.

It is important here that the places have a certain infrastructure.

The living space is rented by the district office at the local rent, and the residents are looked after by a youth welfare agency on an outpatient basis, so that the potential landlord also has a contact person.

Interested parties can contact the youth welfare office on Tel. 08261/995-310 or by e-mail to

.

• Asylum accommodation

For asylum accommodation, the district requires living space from a size of 150 square meters.

Anyone who can provide a building can contact the immigration office on Tel. 08261/995-185 or -610 or by email at

You can find helpful information - also on the accommodation you are looking for - on the homepage of the district office at www.unterallgaeu.de/auslaender.