More refugees: district plans to erect a lightweight hall

The next crisis is looming here. In the shadow of the pandemic, the number of refugees has risen month by month. The district has reactivated the accommodation on Güterstrasse in Singen and extended the lease for the container accommodation on Byk-Gulden-Strasse in Konstanz (campus). All of that won't be enough. Now the district wants to have a lightweight hall built on the campus property, as between 2016 and 2018, as can be seen from a meeting proposal of the administration and finance committee. It was dismantled because the need was no longer there. It is planned that around 40 people can be accommodated in the hall.

Lightweight hall as a temporary measure

The lightweight hall is a temporary measure. The rental agreement for the property with the city of Konstanz runs until December 31, 2022. Obviously, the district does not want to create long-term facts - after all, the living quality of lightweight halls is questionable. District administrator Zeno Danner makes it clear that he wants to avoid the next step with this step: "We don't want to occupy the sports halls with refugees, but the numbers are as they are."

Better lightweight hall than sports hall

According to the statements of district councilors in the special session of the committee: "In this election, I have to agree to the lightweight hall," says Sibylle Röth (left) and wants to know whether the district administrator sees a chance to put people back in homes in the near future. In this question he is somewhat optimistic, Danner replies, "but not in the fact that these are also beautiful houses".

The numbers are increasing

Monika Brumm, head of the Office for Migration and Integration, confirms the difficult to assess Location. The figures show a clear trend: 121 refugees were admitted in November, 87 in December and 68 people were announced by the regional council for January. "The numbers are fluctuating." In the accommodation on Güterstrasse in Singen, 30 places out of 101 are occupied, in the campus accommodation 47 places out of the current 51. The nationalities of the arrivals ranged from Afghanistan to Eritrea, Turkey, China to the Iran. The Fetscher company from Markdorf is to take over the construction of the lightweight hall, including maintenance, heating and dismantling. The costs for this should amount to 140,000 euros by December 31st, the RP has agreed to assume the costs. The district has to bear the costs for the power supply and a fire alarm system for 40,000 euros as well as the operating costs, around 42,000 euros.

Will the hall become the norm?

But what will happen if more refugees are assigned to the district? The district councilors are also concerned with the issue. "I don't see that the campus facility is an emergency plan," said Dorothee Jacobs-Krahnen (Greens) at the meeting. Monika Brumm had previously spoken about this. It is crucial that sufficient sanitary facilities are available. According to the meeting template, the residents of the hall should initially use the toilets and showers in the container facility.

What a refugee helper says

Marion Mallmann-Biehler, Chairwoman of the refugee aid organization Save me in Constance, sees no danger of sports halls becoming refugee accommodation could become. "That would be completely impossible because of the omicron wave," she says. She knows from many refugees that they get the message that they have to move to another municipality. That will ease the situation in the communal accommodations a bit. "The district office tries to ensure that those affected do not move to a distant community."

Mallmann-Biehler criticizes what she sees as insufficient efforts by the city and district office to acquire buildings. There are several vacant properties in the industrial area. "But nothing has happened there for years." How expensive it is to use the property cannot be judged from the outside, of course. In the future, the district administrator should be able to make decisions on renting real estate on his own, because rapid action is necessary. A majority of the district councilors agreed to this, provided that the funding was secured and they would be informed about the procedure.