There’s a lack of affordable housing in many big German cities. The situation is particularly tense in Berlin, making it hard for asylum seekers and the unemployed to find an apartment. Guesthouses and hotels in the German capital have been found to take advantage of the situation.
Of the asylum seekers who came to Germany two years ago, many have now received permission to stay. In Berlin, a total of 34.000 refugees were either granted refugee protection, asylum or subsidiary protection. That means that they are no longer under the care of the state office for refugee affairs in Berlin, the LAF (Landesamt für Flüchtlingsangelegenheiten). Responsibility is transferred to district offices and Jobcenters as soon as a person’s status is clear. These entities are responsible to assist in housing matters and finding work.
But these Berlin district offices are facing challenges to find accommodation for those now permitted to stay. According to a report by the Berlin daily “Berliner Morgenpost”, social and welfare offices have therefore started to allocate people to hotels, guest-houses and hostels that rent out rooms to refugees over long periods of time at extremely high costs. The units often lack legal oversight through the LAF. The newspaper calls the new business model a “flourishing gray market”.
Lack of oversight
According to the newspaper report, social offices accept offers by semi-legal businesses to rent out to refugees. A clear oversight of the many accommodations is missing. A list available in the district Mitte reveals that only one out of five accommodation offers was deemed as completely legal and sound. Among the places that rent out to refugees is a facility run by the Gierso company with whom the LAF had terminated relations due to quality defects.
State money for unsound business models
The landlords and hotel owners make a big profit out of this model: by renting out rooms and apartment units to as many different recipients of state support as possible, they receive money from the Jobcenters for each individual tenant. This is regardless of the fact that there might be more than one person living in one small room.
The state of Berlin paid 11.4 million euros in December of 2016 for housing costs of “needs units” (Bedarfsgemeinschaften), meaning all persons eligible for state support in addition to those living in one unit with the recipient. On average, this makes for more than 1100 euros a month for every “needs unit”. The money the Jobcenter provides for recognized refugees after they have moved out of the reception center is financed indirectly by public taxes.
Fraud and discrimination
The phenomenon is not limited to hotels and hostels. Reports of an informal apartment market for refugees have been published in German media including Rheinische Post and Spiegel online. Refugees struggle to find available housing and become victims of unsound offers. For example, single apartments are being rented out to many different tenants who each pay an overpriced rent. This maximizes the profit for the landlord, even if the tenants have to share tiny spaces. In some cases, fake agents have ripped off refugees asking for large amounts of money on non-existent offers.