The letter of termination to around 40 tenants in Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, caused heated discussions. The mayor of the county town thinks that’s exaggerated. A planned information event for the affected tenants has been canceled as a precaution.
Regardless of public criticism, Lörrach is sticking to the planned conversion of old rental apartments into a refugee home. “We’ve done it several times,” said Mayor Jörg Lutz in the southern Baden city. “Everyone was happy.” However, society has changed in the meantime, he pointed out. The pressure on the municipalities is great: in the past year alone, Lörrach took in 638 refugees.
Around 40 residents are to move out of a residential complex to make room for refugees. The municipal company Wohnbau Lörrach is to provide tenants with more modern and affordable housing options. It is about 30 apartments, they are mainly one-person households. “The first apartment has already been found,” said Managing Director Thomas Nostadt.
A letter from his company to affected tenants had sparked broad debates on social networks since the beginning of the week. Clear criticism of the approach of the housing construction company was also expressed. Federal and state politicians also spoke up.
Since there should be offers for the tenants, he expects that formal terminations for the apartments from the 1950s will not be necessary, said the head of the town hall. It had been planned to demolish and rebuild the apartments in the coming years because of their condition. According to Nostadt, terminations due to “legitimate public interest” are quite possible. Lutz was amazed at the interest of the media and the public: “The 30 apartments are really not good enough to talk about the big scandal.” He regretted that the contents of the housing letter had been taken out of context. “A lot of dust has been kicked up.”
Because of the debates, a residents’ meeting announced for Monday is initially canceled. “The mood is too heated,” said Nostadt. He and Lutz complained that employees had been insulted and threatened. Nostadt spoke of “hundreds of hate mails”.
The Refugee Council of Baden-Württemberg also attributes the current problems in accommodating refugees to the closure of previous refugee accommodation. Due to the falling number of refugees, the company has started to close locations. This is now falling on the municipalities’ feet, said a spokeswoman. Of course, many municipalities are on the edge of what they can achieve. “But you can also observe that the situation is tense where the accommodation places were dismantled after the influx of refugees in 2015/16,” she said.
The refugee council is in favor of more flexible structures: For example, refugees should be allowed to stay with acquaintances, friends or relatives, provided that this is possible for those affected. “That can also equalize the situation on the housing market,” she said. The current recording system is far too rigid. Four members of the AfD parliamentary group in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament announced that they had filed criminal charges against the management of the Lörrach housing association. The reason is the suspicion of coercion to the detriment of the tenants concerned.
