Status: 18.12.2023, 20:46 PM
By: Peter Sieben
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Many municipalities are currently planning large-scale accommodation for refugees. Experts criticize this and say that the size of the homes even has an impact on election results.
Berlin – They are often places without consolation: container villages on the outskirts of the city between barbed wire and construction fences, inside glaring hospital lights and gray linoleum floors. Refugees are accommodated here, hundreds in one place. The large accommodations often cause conflicts and rejection among the population as well as frustration and aggression among the accommodated. But there are alternatives to prevent this, experts say.
Large refugee shelter planned: Fear of violence and attacks
108 million people worldwide are on the run. More than ever before, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of them come from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Those that reach Germany are distributed to cities across the country. Many municipalities feel overwhelmed when it comes to accommodation, also financially. Some are planning so-called state reception facilities, which can accommodate 600 people or more – these are organised and co-financed by the state. This is the case in the small town of Grevenbroich-Kapellen in North Rhine-Westphalia, where a huge container village is to be built on an industrial site in the middle of nowhere. There is protest among the locals. This is also happening in other places, such as Gera in Thuringia, where accommodation for 200 people is planned.
"The resentment is basically understandable. Many are concerned that priority will be given to young men who are underutilized, leading to violence, assaults on women or burglaries. That's a general fear," says Birgit Glorius. She is a member of the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) and Professor of Human Geography at Chemnitz University of Technology. There are no indications in the statistics that crime rates around facilities have increased. But the fear is still there.
Proportion of AfD voters has increased in the vicinity of large refugee homes
The phenomenon is well known in science, says Martin Lange, who researches the integration of refugees at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, among other things. "In social psychology, there is the so-called contact hypothesis. It states that genuine contact with other groups significantly increases acceptance among each other. And we also see this in practice," says Lange.
Large accommodations on the periphery of cities, however, tend to lead to rejection among the population - and sometimes even to a shift to the right. "For example, it was shown that in the 2016 state election in Rhineland-Palatinate, the proportion of AfD voters in regions with large accommodation even increased."
Decentralised accommodation promotes integration
In the case of smaller accommodations, the willingness of volunteers to help is often great. "But the cost-benefit factor has to be right," Lange makes clear. "If helpers have to drive for hours to a shelter on the outskirts of the city, it won't work." Birgit Glorius from the SVR also says that the more decentralised the type of accommodation, the better the integration works. "We did a lot of research in Saxony and in the district of Bautzen. Smaller facilities in particular worked well there, especially when the population was well integrated."
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Meanwhile, states and municipalities argue with costs. If, for example, social workers can centrally look after many refugees in a shelter, this is cheaper than driving from place to place. From a scientific point of view, this cannot be confirmed, says Birgit Glorius. "There is no evidence that a large facility is more cost-effective than a small one." In fact, the municipalities usually work with step-by-step plans. As soon as refugees leave initial reception centres and have their first jobs, many things can also be clarified over the phone. An on-site supervisor is then no longer necessary. An important point here is receptive labour markets, says Glorius. And these are most likely to be found in places with large industrial enterprises. "In companies that have a lot of experience with diversity in personnel, there are fewer inhibitions about hiring refugees. It's different in regions with smaller farms," says Birgit Glorius.
Immigration is economically necessary
In the end, immigration is economically necessary for everyone. "We would need 400,000 additional workers every year, i.e. people who want to stay for the long term. This requires an appropriate welcoming culture and appropriate capacities, such as housing."