"Two rooms, 56 sqm for €724.00, for rent to single person only"
A current example of how the housing market in the Ludwigburg district is currently looking. And a real challenge for refugees, who theoretically have the right to move out of shared accommodation. Language, work and housing are generally associated with "successful integration" and these are also the main issues in integration management. Once their livelihood is secure and their language skills improve, most refugees have their own place to live on the agenda. But probably no integration management client would ever have thought that it would be so difficult to find their own living space.
Many people actually want to get out of the shared accommodation or municipal emergency accommodation so that they can settle down, learn German better or do their homework and no longer have to live with lots of different people in a small space. A family of five from Besigheim also had this one wish in particular. The refugee family from Syria has already integrated well in the district of Ludwigsburg. Both daughters attend school and speak fluent German. The youngest son goes to kindergarten. The parents are currently improving their language skills and attending another German course. Their next big goal was to really live independently again, to have a bathroom and a kitchen just for their own family.
The integration managers at Caritas Ludwigsburg-Waiblingen-Enz, responsible for advising and supporting refugees in Besigheim, supported the family in their many attempts to find an affordable apartment and a landlord who would accept three children and not insist that each child had to have their own room. A few times it looked quite good and the family thought they had made it, but it was never enough to get a tenancy agreement.
The integration managers always had to motivate them again after setbacks. They pointed out the generally very tight situation on the housing market, looked at the district map with the family and considered where and how they could still apply for an apartment. Unfortunately, the idea of finding an affordable apartment through the volunteers of the Freundeskreis Asyl did not work out either. The relationships with the volunteers are almost always the only "vitamin B", and time and again an apartment can be found in this way. In this case, however, things turned out differently. By chance, the "TürÖffner" project in Besigheim had a suitable offer, which the Syrian family was able to apply for with the help of the integration managers. And this time the family was lucky, they were accepted and the tenancy agreement was signed.
With the "TürÖffner" initiative, Caritas Ludwigsburg-Waiblingen-Enz and the Catholic deaneries in the Ludwigsburg and Rems-Murr districts are committed to finding accommodation in order to open up housing opportunities for people on a tight budget. This means that Caritas rents the apartment and then rents it out to people who are urgently looking for housing. The framework for this is provided by the upper rent limits set by the district of Ludwigsburg for the respective municipality.
This project is financed in part by the "Affordable Housing" development fund of the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese. Some local authorities in the Ludwigsburg district have now also contributed financially. Tenants are reliably selected according to a set procedure. Various criteria play a role here: that the landlord and tenant are a good match, the urgency and the welfare of the child. However, a convincing application and a good personal impression are also important. The integration managers, who have known the Syrian family for a long time, were able to provide very good support on these points, so that it all worked out in the end. Nothing now stands in the way of them moving into their own apartment.
Background: The Pact for Integration
The Integration Management / Pact for Integration is a broad network of the Workers' Welfare Association, Caritas, the District Deaconry Association, the District Association of the German Red Cross and the Ludwigsburg District Office. It is based on the voluntary participation of refugees. It is based on the identification of needs in discussions between social workers and refugees. On this basis, concrete goals are jointly formulated. These are set out in writing in an integration plan and worked on gradually. The goals are integration into the local community, connection to the standard care systems and the acquisition of skills to lead an independent life. Once the specific goals have been achieved and the refugee is able to organize their life independently, integration management can be terminated. Refugees can then receive further support from regular services such as migration advice if required.
At the start of 2021, 2469 refugees were being looked after by Integration Management, 970 of whom were minors. 13 percent of adult clients are in employment subject to social insurance contributions. In addition, four percent are in training, an internship or studying. Integration management has already ended for 1253 people (as at 01.03.2021). Of these, 780 people were able to sign a tenancy agreement and have private accommodation for the first time.
