Inflation, skyrocketing energy prices, housing shortage. Social institutions, humanitarian and church organizations in Germany fear that the homeless could be hit hard this winter.
Kristijan and Michael are sitting in the dining room of the center for helping the homeless of the evangelical organization "Diakonia" in Oberhausen. It was late in the afternoon, but they still managed to get breakfast. Neither of them have a place to live. And they have no more money than they have, and with all these price increases and what they have now is even less.
"It's already impossible to make ends meet," says Mihael. He just got divorced and his whole world is falling apart.
"Before, I always took a big cart at the store, and now for the same money I can just fill a basket."
Inflation, price increases... A tired young man does not know how to proceed.
And Christian complains about the high cost. He was recently released from prison after serving his sentence and found that "groceries that cost less than two euros are always sold out."
Their mood is even more gloomy when they are asked the question: how will they be over the winter? It is clear that even then they will often have to sleep outside. Mihael admits that he is afraid. Christian says he's not afraid, but he knows what it means when it's cold.
The real trouble hasn't started yet
Both are aware that it is increasingly difficult to get social housing. Not only are there more and more people from Germany who need it, but refugees from Ukraine are also housed in such apartments.
Frank Bremkamp, who heads the church institution where Michael and Christian have breakfast, says that "a hard winter awaits us".
But he also says that "the crisis has not yet really hit those who need help".
Bremkamp has experience, he has long been engaged in social assistance in Oberhausen, a former industrial center that today has around 200.000 inhabitants. He estimates that there are about three hundred people in his town who really don't have a roof over their heads, but, he says, they usually only come to the shelter when it's really winter.
"We are ready for cold days," Bremkamp is confident.
The warehouses are well stocked, the only thing missing are good shoes and warm clothes. He brags about a donation of 20 so-called "Shelter-Suits". These are waterproof jackets that can also be used as sleeping bags, and even have a sewn-in scarf. There are also ordinary sleeping bags, and there are also tents. He also shows us flashlights without battery – it's enough to pull the cord.
Bremkamp's motto is: "With us, no one will be lost!"
When the threat of dismissal...
Although Bremkamp claims to be ready for the challenges, the association of humanitarian institutions of evangelical churches is worried. It will be increasingly difficult to find accommodation for those who have nothing.
"More and more expensive food places a heavy burden on the poorest. With the money they have, they can hardly buy anything else," says Marija Lohajde, a member of the board of directors of the social policy department of the association "Diakonia Germany".
However, the city administration of Oberhausen emphasizes that there is no need to panic. Basically, there are few people in the city who really don't have a place to live, and the building has a home for about sixty homeless and single people, as well as for families.
There is also a Catholic church, and Mark Wroblevski from the "Karl Sonnenschein" Home of "Caritas" says that they also have the possibility to house about seventy people. And if that's not enough? "We'll figure something out quickly. We've always managed to find another warm place."
And Vroblevski says he is ready for the upcoming winter, but he is not entirely optimistic. During the pandemic, the number of possible places to stay overnight was reduced, but for now this is not threatened by inflation and expensive energy.
"It will probably be felt only next year, when people get new gas and electricity bills, and if the companies they work for start laying off people," says Vroblevski.
Big government plans
No one really knows exactly how many people live on the streets in Germany. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection estimates that around 374.000 people really do not have a roof over their heads. About 178.000 people who are practically permanent residents of homes and shelters for the homeless should be added to that. However, social workers are convinced that the real numbers are far higher than the official statistics.
The ruling German coalition had big plans in the fight against expensive housing and in helping the homeless: the coalition agreement of the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals states that the goal is to overcome the homeless problem by 2030.
"Everyone who needs an apartment must get it," says the responsible Minister for Housing and Housing, Klara Gejvic.
The current chancellor, Olaf Scholz, during the time he was in charge of Hamburg, also showed how: by building thousands of communal apartments. Expanding such an offer would inevitably lower rents for everyone.
Nice idea, but still just a utopia?
But all this was before the start of the war in Ukraine. Then the cost of construction exploded. The whole project of building a large number of apartments is hardly progressing, and the social institutions are skeptical and believe that even this would not solve all the problems.
"Having enough apartments is certainly the right way, but that's not all," says Mark Wroblevski.
For people who need help, an apartment is just one of a whole series of problems: there is often addiction, they almost always come from broken families... These are people who have admitted defeat in life and don't have the strength for a new beginning.
That's why Vroblewski considers the government's plan a utopia, and Frank Brenkamp thinks the same.
Building a large number of social housing is a goal "that must not be lost sight of", but he believes that it is impossible to provide a roof over everyone's head in just eight years.
And all that is just philosophizing anyway. Now the first thing to think about is the coming winter and how to help the homeless not to die from the cold.
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