German government adopts action plan on homelessness

DPA
·1 min read
Klara Geywitz German Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, speaks at a press conference after a tour of a medical and socio-educational facility for the homeless. German government ministers on 24 April backed a plan presented by Geywitz to address homelessness by building more affordable housing and overhauling emergency shelters. Britta Pedersen/dpa

German government ministers on Wednesday backed a plan to address homelessness by building more affordable housing and overhauling emergency shelters.

The strategy calls for giving all homeless people in the country access to housing by 2030, but details remain vague.

The plan also calls for new standards for accommodation in emergency shelters that would give people more privacy, and steps to ensure that all homeless people have health insurance.

Germany has been struggling with a major housing shortfall in recent years, and the government has been forced to acknowledge that targets of building 400,000 new homes each year will not be achieved.

Housing Minister Klara Geywitz, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), presented the plan to the Cabinet on Wednesday.

Nobody knows exactly how many people in Germany are homeless.

In its most recent estimates, the Working Group on Assistance for the Homeless said that roughly 607,000 people were affected by homelessness in 2022 - some temporarily, some for months or the whole year.

These include people who sleep outdoors, in underground stations, tents or condemned buildings, but also those who stay with friends and relatives.