New accommodation for 840 refugees to open Friday

The entrance area of the former Tempelhof Airport.

A new refugee shelter for 840 people is to open at the former Berlin-Tempelhof airport on Friday.

This was announced by the President of the State Office for Refugee Affairs, Carina Harms, during a discussion with Berlin refugee initiatives on Monday. According to Harms, no sponsor has yet been found for the accommodation. But they are in contact with aid organisations. When asked why the new container accommodation should open at such short notice before Christmas, Harms replied: "It's about averting homelessness. We won't be able to do that without the places."

Move-in of 200 people planned for Friday

The head of the department, Benjamin Buchholz, was confident that an agreement with a provider would be found in the course of the week, but that there was a lack of staff. Nevertheless, 200 already registered refugees who were previously staying at the arrival centre in Reinickendorf are to move into the container on Friday.

Shortage of housing for refugees

Berlin is desperately seeking new accommodation because the number of refugees has been increasing recently. At present, Berlin is taking in slightly fewer refugees than agreed upon according to the distribution key of the federal states. This is another reason why new places are urgently needed. There were about 8,000 people in the shelters who would be willing to move into a flat, but this was not possible due to the shortage of housing in Berlin.

10,000 new accommodation places for refugees decided

According to Harms, there are currently around 30,000 refugees living in state-run accommodation in Berlin. That is 6,000 more than a year ago. Due to the continuing high number of refugees coming to Germany and Berlin in particular, the Senate decided in November to create 10,000 new accommodation places for refugees.