Hundreds of thousands of people in Germany lack adequate housing. The number of homeless people has been rising dramatically over the past years. There are no official statistics though. The number of people living on the streets is particularly high in Berlin. Which Berlin district invests the most money into projects helping the homeless? How much money is given by the Berlin senate in order to deal with the problem? And is it true, that most homeless people are men? We compiled 6 facts and numbers to get a clearer picture of homelessness in Berlin.
Up to 10.000 homeless in Berlin
As said, there are no official numbers, but charities estimate that there are approximately 10.000 homeless people in Berlin.
Up to 335.000 homeless in Germany
According to BAG Wohnungslosenhilfe e.V. (homeless care association) and the Poverty and Wealth Report released by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 2014, there are about 335.000 homeless in Germany. Next year the number will grow to 500.000 according to a new study.
Homeless people under a bridge
Only 689 shelter beds
For this huge number of homeless people, there are only 689 beds in winter shelter sleeping facilities. Until the end of the year the number of beds should grow to 1.000. The winter shelter programme “Kältehilfe” was founded by parishes and charities located in Berlin and the city’s senate administration. The project’s goal is safe people without adequate housing during the cold period between November 1st and March 31st from death due to hypothermia by providing shelter beds, night cafés, soup kitchens and mobile warm-up busses.
Our mobile lodges as a place to sleep for homeless on the ground of the St. Pius church in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
Support our project for homeless people in Berlin >>
5,6 Mio Euros for homeless charities
In 2015, the districts of Berlin provided 2.632.694 Euros to support the offers of homeless charities. The Senate invested about 5,6 Mio Euros to launch an integrative social programme, that was freely accessible for those in need. The offers included sleeping accommodation, warm meals, emergency medical care and also counselling in information centres or through social workers.
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg spends most on helping the homeless
The districts spend different amounts of money to support charity projects: While Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg spent 723.000 Euros on homeless programmes, Steglitz-Zehlendorf only spent 9.550 Euros (numbers according to an interactive figure regarding charity funds of Berliner districts). The number of homeless people varies in each district and therefore also the amount of money each district is distributing. The homeless charity programme offers safe places to sleep, meals and medical care. Information centres and social workers are supposed to help people with the re-integration into the system of welfare aid.
More women without shelter
It is not true that homelessness is a male problem: The number of women living on the streets nationwide has been rising from 15% in 1990 up to 25% today, according to the BAG Wohnungslosenhilfe e.V. It is assumed, that there are at least 2.500 homeless women in Berlin.
One quarter of homeless people from Eastern Europe
More and more people coming from Eastern Europe live on the streets of Berlin. According to unofficial estimations, 25% of the Berliner homeless people originate from North-Eastern, Middle-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Further, the number of homeless refugees from the Middle East is increasing dramatically.
You can find more interesting statistics on homelessness in Berlin on obdachlosinberlin.de – a data project of the Protestant Journalist School (Evangelische Journalistenschule).
Did u know? We're providing our festival lodges as a shelter for homeless people in Berlin on the ground of the St. Pius church in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The Caritas is supporting our "Kältehilfe"-project and u can help too. Support our fundraising in betterplace.org >>
