According to the City Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, many more places must be created for refugees in a short space of time. The municipalities are appealing to the state to become more active itself and to provide more money. Because it's not just about accommodation, but also about integration.
Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) - The North Rhine-Westphalia Association of Cities is demanding more speed and higher targets from the state government when expanding the state's own reception capacities for refugees. "Expansion speed and expansion target must be significantly increased," said the chairman of the NRW city association, Essen's mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU), the dpa. "Only if we make a big leap and the country increases its capacity to at least 70,000 places will we be able to cope in the next few months," he added. That is an order of magnitude based on the level of 2015 and 2016. The capacity of the country's reception facilities was recently around 26,000 places. Kufen also calls for extensive financial support for the municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"Unfortunately, we don't see an end to the war in Ukraine. Temperatures are falling and the Russian army is targeting civilian infrastructure. It's becoming more difficult to supply people in Ukraine with heat, electricity and water," explained Kufen. It is to be expected that more people will have to leave their homes. "We want to help these people and accommodate them appropriately. We will not leave the refugees on the street," he emphasized. But that is becoming increasingly difficult in many cities because the capacities in the city accommodations are “almost exhausted”. "The red warning light is on, especially in the big cities. It's hard to get any more places," explained Kufen.
The state must pass on all of the additional funds promised by the federal government to the municipalities and add its own money where the federal money is not enough, demanded Kufen. Because the people have to be accommodated, cared for and integrated locally. "There is a complete lack of funds for the integration of people in the decisions of the federal and state governments. We will have to talk to each other about this," said Kufen before a meeting of representatives of the municipal associations in North Rhine-Westphalia with Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), to whom the head of government invited. "We need to talk about how the state and local authorities will work together to deal with the great challenge of taking in more refugees this winter," said Kufen.
According to the Ministry for Family and Integration, the state currently (as of November 8) has 26,091 places including security and care staff in the state facilities. That is already around 11,000 more places than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In view of the tense accommodation situation in the municipalities, the country is working flat out on additional capacities, said a ministry spokesman. Conditions have been created to get more than 34,000 places in the short term. There is also a close exchange on how the municipalities can be further relieved and supported.
According to the ministry, North Rhine-Westphalia currently has a total of 40 state accommodation facilities: 5 initial reception facilities, 28 central accommodation facilities and 7 emergency accommodation facilities. As of November 8, 84 percent of the initial reception facilities and 73 percent of the central accommodation facilities, including emergency accommodation, were occupied, the ministry spokesman explained.
