- Refugees: CDU wants more large housing - Kiziltepe does not
The black-red coalition government is still searching for a common line in the accommodation of refugees. According to CDU faction leader Dirk Stettner, there is no way around further large-scale accommodations. He also considers it necessary to continue using the emergency shelter in Tegel beyond 2025 and to expand its capacities.
Social and Integration Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD), on the other hand, wants to accommodate fewer people in Tegel and focus more on smaller, decentralized accommodations.
Stettner: "We will have to continue to expand Tegel"
Stettner considers it unrealistic to dispense with large-scale accommodations in the near future: "As long as the federal government does not change its asylum policy and does not stop or at least significantly reduce the high influx of asylum seekers, we will continue to need large-scale accommodations," he told the German Press Agency.
He also believes that the large-scale accommodation in Tegel will still be needed beyond the end of 2025. Its use is contractually agreed until then. "Anything else would be a miracle, on the contrary, we will have to continue to expand Tegel," said Stettner. "There were always some left-wingers who said 'We will dissolve the large-scale accommodation in Tegel', but that is completely unfounded," he emphasized.
Currently, around 6,500 places are available in the emergency accommodation on the former Tegel Airport site. Most of these are in temporary halls, which are temporarily divided into something like compartments. They offer hardly any privacy for the current around 5,000 residents. Another 1,000 places are to be added on a parking lot by the end of the year.
Kiziltepe wants to reduce the accommodation in Tegel
Integration Senator Kiziltepe wants to reduce the large emergency accommodation in Tegel again next year. "Our goal is to reduce the emergency accommodation places," she said to the German Press Agency.
Apart from the high costs, such large-scale accommodations bring many problems for their residents and their integration. "It's not good for the people if 14 people have to sleep in the smallest space without any perspective of when they can leave the accommodation," she said.
The Senate decided in March to build 16 decentralized container villages. "We will probably not have a single one of the 6,100 places in decentralized accommodations, which have been decided in Berlin, by 2025," Stettner warned, however. "If it goes well, the accommodations will start at the end of next year. Many are planned for 2026."
Kiziltepe, on the other hand, expects that around 10 of the 16 new decentralized container villages will be opened by the end of 2025. "We are on schedule," she said. Furthermore, around 2,000 places will be created in new community accommodations this year, and another around 3,000 places in 2025, which will partly include apartments and offer space for between 100 and 570 people per facility.
New properties for refugees
In addition, the Senator said that the state has three more, rather medium-sized accommodations in sight. Together, these have about 4,000 places. The properties are located at Hasenheide, in Soorstraße (Westend) and in Landsberger Allee.
Stettner stated, "I'm already seeing big question marks for the year 2024. 'We need between 10,000 and 12,000 additional places from August to December,' said the CDU politician. 'We'll have to work very hard to accommodate everyone before winter - and that's in large shelters and pensions. Nowhere else.'"
He continued, "For 2025, we can expect an average of 2,000 to 2,400 people moving to the city each month - 'if the numbers stay as they are.' That's why we'll still need large shelters. 'And even more large shelters on top of that.'"
Stettner advocates for new approaches
The CDU politician advocates for new approaches and the development of communal settlements - "for refugees and for Berliners who are urgently seeking affordable housing."
To make this possible, Stettner demands that the federal coalition government amend paragraph 246 of the Building Code. "'That is, expand the special building rights so that we can not only create housing for refugees faster, but also for those who are already here.'"
This way, it would be possible to build, for example, 4,000 apartments on an industrial wasteland faster than before, with 1,000 for refugees and 3,000 for Berliners.
Stettner discusses the role of the German Press Agency in communicating his views
Stettner expressed his views on the need for large-scale accommodations to the German Press Agency, emphasizing that as long as the federal government maintains its current asylum policy, large-scale accommodations will continue to be necessary.
The German Press Agency facilitates Kiziltepe's perspective on smaller accommodations
Integration Senator Kiziltepe shared her goal of reducing the emergency accommodation in Tegel with the German Press Agency, highlighting the challenges associated with large-scale accommodations and the advantages of smaller, decentralized options.
