Berlin says it is reaching its limits in accommodating refugees

Berlin: According to Berlin’s Senator for Integration Katja Kipping, Berlin has reached its limits in accommodating refugees.

In recent months, about 6,000 new places have been created in reception and communal facilities, and the total number of 27,700 is higher than ever before. Nevertheless, only about 200 of the places are currently free, Kipping said on Monday.

According to Kipping, the number of asylum seekers has increased significantly since the German summer months.

In the first nine months of the year, 12,237 new asylum seekers were registered in Berlin. In the same period last year, there were 7,812, and in 2021 as a whole there were 12,175.

A large proportion of these, though not all, will remain in Berlin for the time being. In addition, there are tens of thousands of Ukrainian war refugees in the city, whose numbers, according to Kipping, continue to increase, albeit more slowly recently than in the first months of the Russian war. Many of these people were initially accommodated privately, but now need other accommodation.

— Ranjith Perera –