Youth hostels in the northwest take in refugees
Four youth hostels in the north-west of Lower Saxony are once again available for the initial reception of refugees this winter. Specifically, these are the hostels in Aurich, Emden, Bad Zwischenahn and at the Thülsfelder Talsperre in the district of Cloppenburg, a spokesperson for the Lower Weser-Ems regional association of the German Youth Hostel Association said in response to an inquiry. The hostels are intended to provide temporary additional accommodation for up to 540 people seeking protection in order to relieve the initial reception facilities in the state. Families in particular are to be accommodated.
The four youth hostels have been occupied since the beginning of November. Around 300 refugees are currently being accommodated there, according to the state reception authority. The youth hostels will be available for refugee accommodation until the middle or end of March next year, before the new vacation season begins in April.
Including temporary emergency accommodation, the state reception authority currently has a total of 10,941 places for the initial reception of refugees. Of these, 8023 places were last occupied.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the number of asylum seekers arriving in Lower Saxony has more than doubled since mid-July, from 500 to 600 arrivals per week at the beginning of November to 1,300 arrivals most recently. Further properties throughout the state are being examined under high pressure to see whether they are suitable for setting up emergency accommodation in the short term.
As living space is scarce, three of the four youth hostels had already been used temporarily by the state reception authority to accommodate refugees in previous years - in addition, the district of Leer had recently also temporarily accommodated refugees independently in the youth hostel on the island of Borkum.
As a non-profit organization, it is a matter of course for the Youth Hostel Association to get involved where possible and provide accommodation, said the spokesperson for the Youth Hostel Association. "Our teams in the youth hostels are well prepared and have already had good experiences with accommodating refugees in previous years." Cooperation with local authorities and partners is going "very well".
The increased number of refugee arrivals in Lower Saxony has led to the examination of additional properties for emergency accommodation. Several of these properties, including three youth hostels, have been used temporarily in the past to house refugees.
The ongoing migration crisis has necessitated the provision of temporary living quarters for over 300 refugees in the four youth hostels in Aurich, Emden, Bad Zwischenahn, and Thülsfelder Talsperre.
Source: www.dpa.com
