Politicians circumvent the law when new homes are to be built for immigrants

Published 3 November 2024 at 12.20

Foreign. Hamburg's city council is under fire for using legal loopholes to circumvent the requirement for “consultation with the public” when building immigrant housing. At the same time, homelessness is increasing among ordinary Germans in the city.

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A construction project intended to accommodate 400 asylum seekers is being “fast-tracked” citing public safety , and then there is no need for consultation with nearby residents from the public.

The leader of Alternative for Germany (AFD) in Hamburg, Dirk Nockemann, now condemns the city's actions as both “brazen” and “hostile to citizens”, reports Remix News.

Critics believe that the city council is using the law on public safety and order for something other than its original purpose, in order to avoid citizen participation and opposition to the construction.

The law is usually used for urgent security measures, such as banning alcohol in public environments , but now the authorities claim that it justifies a rapid construction process without the usual handling of building permits and without involving the residents.

Hamburg's city council defends its decisions and emphasizes the urgent need to provide housing for immigrants. The politicians believe that this outweighs the need for citizen dialogue.

However, both residents and opposition politicians believe that this approach undermines the democratic processes and ignores the local population's demands for more social housing for their own needs.

Despite the housing shortage in Hamburg, the state has built hundreds of immigrant homes in the last five years for over 40,000 new arrivals, while fewer than 15,000 rental units were added for German residents.

Nockemann warns that the municipality is “making Hamburg's citizens second-class citizens in the housing market” and demands that Hamburg's city council “finally deliver a solution to the local population's housing needs.”

In addition to increased housing prices and second-hand rents – which, however, are still only a fraction of the Swedish ones – Hamburg's social services are under heavy pressure. Social spending, including education and grants, has skyrocketed. In 2023, one billion euros was set aside for the welfare, benefits and care of immigrants, putting the city's social system to the test.