“We want to help these people and accommodate them appropriately”

The City Council of North Rhine-Westphalia is demanding more speed and higher targets from the state government when it comes to expanding the state’s own reception capacities for refugees. "Expansion speed and expansion target must be increased significantly," said the chairman of the NRW city association, Essen's mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU), the dpa. "Only if we make a big leap and the country increases its capacity to at least 70,000 places will we be able to cope in the next few months," he added. That is an order of magnitude based on the level of 2015 and 2016. The capacity of the country's reception facilities was recently around 26,000 places. Kufen also calls for extensive financial support for the municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia.

“Unfortunately, we see no end to the war in Ukraine. Temperatures are dropping and the Russian army is targeting civilian infrastructure. Supplying people with heat, electricity and water in Ukraine is becoming more difficult,” explained Kufen. It is to be expected that more people will have to leave their homes. “We want to help these people and accommodate them appropriately. We will not leave the refugees on the street," he emphasized. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult in many cities because the capacities in urban accommodation are “almost exhausted”. “The red warning light is on, especially in the big cities. It's almost impossible to get any more places," explained Kufen.

The state must pass on all of the additional funds promised by the federal government to the municipalities and add its own money where the federal money is not enough, demanded Kufen. Because the people have to be accommodated, cared for and integrated locally. "Funds for the integration of people are completely missing from the resolutions of the federal and state governments. We will have to talk to each other about this," said Kufen before a meeting of representatives of municipal associations in North Rhine-Westphalia with Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), to which the head of government had invited. "We have to talk about how the state and local authorities will jointly overcome the great challenge of taking in more refugees this winter," said Kufen.

According to the Ministry for Family and Integration, the state currently (as of November 8) has 26,091 places, including security and care staff, in the state facilities. That is already around 11,000 more places than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In view of the tense accommodation situation in the municipalities, the country is working flat out on additional capacities, said a ministry spokesman. The conditions were created to get more than 34,000 places in the short term. There is also a close exchange on how the municipalities can be further relieved and supported.

According to the ministry, North Rhine-Westphalia currently has a total of 40 state accommodation facilities: 5 initial reception facilities, 28 central accommodation facilities and 7 emergency accommodation facilities. As of November 8, 84 percent of the initial reception facilities and 73 percent of the central accommodation facilities, including emergency accommodation, were occupied, the ministry spokesman explained.