Despite great efforts, local authorities and the district of
are running out of accommodation options. There is great concern that there will not be enough accommodation in halls in the fall and winter
. At the moment, 150 to 200 people a week are allocated to the district by the state
, including 100 to 150 refugees from Ukraine. The 34 shared accommodation facilities in the
district for temporary accommodation in various municipalities are occupied by more than 2,000
people. For a district as densely populated as Ludwigsburg, it is increasingly
difficult to cope with the high number of arrivals, which is why the local authorities are proposing
better distribution within Germany and more pragmatic solutions (e.g. municipal redistribution
via twin towns).
However, many of the accommodations provided by the municipalities were already occupied before the outbreak of the
war of aggression in Ukraine. The capacity for further accommodation in the district of
is now exhausted. The first halls have been set up as emergency accommodation instead of being available for school sports at
. Nevertheless, hundreds of refugees will continue to arrive in the district of
every week. The number of other refugee groups arriving has also been rising significantly for months.
Further emergency accommodation is therefore unavoidable. Not only the provision of temporary
living space, but also the additional kindergarten and school places required are placing an additional burden on the
municipalities. "Looking ahead to the fall and winter, the situation is already causing me
great concern," said District Administrator Allgaier on the upcoming developments. According to
Allgaier, the population needs to stick together now in particular, as social peace is at risk.
The mayors and district administrator were clear that they were committed to "taking in refugees who need our protection and providing
for them".
Nevertheless, it is to be feared that acceptance in the municipalities will decline if further halls are permanently
occupied. The housing market remains tense, as the announced support
of 80 million euros from the state is unlikely to meet demand, according to Steffen Jäger, President
of the Association of Municipalities. Pragmatic solutions are needed here,
the panel agreed.
The mayors' assembly of the Ludwigsburg district and District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier are therefore calling on
the federal government to limit the incentive for immigration to Germany, especially
for groups other than those actually in need of protection. "Unfortunately,
we are not seeing any reactions or measures on the part of the federal government that show that it is reacting to this situation and
trying to counteract the influx of asylum seekers. On the contrary: the federal government's current
considerations to fundamentally abolish the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act would
mean further incentives for illegal migration to Germany. If all refugees
were to receive benefits under the Second Social Security Code (SGB II, "Hartz IV"), this would
be a major mistake that would overburden the social system in Germany," says District Administrator Allgaier.
The current background to the federal political discussion is that refugees from Ukraine have been receiving benefits under SGB II or SGB XII - comparable to recognized asylum seekers - since
June; due to the change in legal status, the Ludwigsburg district job center is responsible for this group of people.
Support programs and the legal facilitation of the construction of refugee accommodation are necessary. In addition, the influx of people with no prospect of a right to stay must be limited so that the scarce living space benefits those who really need it. The majority of the federal states have already activated a block in the initial distribution system vis-à-vis the federal government in light of the high number of new arrivals.
The exchange with local members of parliament Fabian Gramling, Steffen Bilger (both CDU), Macit Karaahmetoğlu (SPD) and Sandra Detzer (Greens) via video call made clear the urgent appeal to support the municipalities more strongly with the burden of receiving and integrating refugees - both financially and by consciously managing the flow of refugees in Europe. For accommodation, but also for personnel support, childcare and medical care, the compensation of municipal costs by the federal and state governments should be urgently adjusted. The members of the Bundestag pledged to pass on the concerns of the district and the municipalities to the federal government and the relevant party committees as a matter of urgency and to work towards improving the situation.
