Refugee accommodation:

Green parliamentary group asks for funding – Don't let municipalities sit at their expense.

Since the refugee crisis in 2015, the municipalities have been taking over the accommodation of refugees together with the MKK: ‘The municipalities are assigned the refugees via the district. For the provision of accommodation, but also the ongoing costs of accommodation, the financial allocations of the district are often not sufficient and sometimes lead to significant deficits in the affected municipalities", notes Rainer Vogel, member of the Green District Parliament and member of the Economic Committee. “These deficits are only partially compensated by one-off payments, the rest must be compensated by the municipal budget.”

For the years 2020 and 2021, numerous municipalities will again have to compensate for high deficits in the accommodation of refugees. ‘Especially in the tense situation caused by Corona and the high surplus of the district in recent years, it is not understandable why the municipalities remain seated here on the costs.’ The partial one-off payments are subject to the condition that the entitlement to further claims expires upon acceptance of payment: “Many municipalities accept out of sheer lack of money and end up having to make the funds available from their own budget. Ultimately, this can even lead to tax increases," Vogel emphasises. “There is also a lack of transparency in the distribution of funds. We would therefore like to know what the state's subsidies were and what the total costs of the district and the municipalities were in order to quantify the necessary shortfalls.”

Particularly in view of the tense situation in Afghanistan, the accommodation of refugees is again a topical topic of the day: “It is likely that the number of refugees worldwide will continue to increase due to climate change and armed conflicts. Here, too, the circle is called upon to take the necessary precautions to accommodate these people in a dignified and smooth manner. This time we should be well prepared for a situation like in 2015,” says Vogel.

With a question, the Greens now want to answer whether the district, due to its good financial situation in 2020 and 2021, plans to completely cover the shortfalls of the municipalities "and what opportunities exist in the future to take over the refugee accommodation and financing itself throughout the district in order to relieve the burden on municipalities and voluntary work", Vogel concludes.

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Enquiries to:

Jakob Mähler
Group Managing Director
Alliance 90 / The Greens Main-Kinzig
06181/61596
0176/46763336
fraktion@gruene-mkk.de