Korbach residential quarter for refugees to be occupied in mid-March

To accommodate people seeking protection, the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg has built a container village in the core town of Korbach in recent months. The residential quarter Flechtdorfer Straße is located at the intersection with Nordring in the direction of the industrial area. The first refugees are expected to move in there in mid-March.

"The fates of the people in the war zone are upsetting. The district is making every effort to take in people fleeing the affected areas. That we help is a matter of course. And non-negotiable," say District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst and First District Councillor Karl-Friedrich Frese, but they also make it clear that the municipalities will need even more support in coping with this task in the future. "In Waldeck-Frankenberg we stand for a cosmopolitan society, but we can only create the framework conditions necessary to help people live safely here together with the state and federal government."

3.5 months of construction, accommodation for 288 people
The construction of the residential quarter on Flechtdorfer Straße was also a joint challenge: after only 3.5 months of construction, the 9,000 square metre site of a former furniture store now offers accommodation for 288 people in five modular residential blocks with sanitary facilities as well as a cooking tent and a washing tent. In a few weeks, mainly refugee families - mostly women with children from Ukraine - will be accommodated here. For this purpose, small lockable living units have been built into the living containers - each of them equipped with two beds and cupboards, tables and chairs and a refrigerator. In addition, all residents are provided with basic cooking and washing utensils. There will also be meeting and seating facilities in the communal areas of the individual residential blocks. There, the residents can also eat together, for example.

Due to the convenient location and the proximity to the city centre and grocery shops, people can also provide for themselves. In the specially equipped kitchen tent, 24 kitchen niches are available for the preparation of meals. In addition, 20 washing machines and dryers have been installed in the laundry tent. In the coming weeks, the outside area of the compound will also be prepared. The areas between the blocks of flats will be used for outdoor seating and a small playground for the children of the refugee families.

Support by DRK and the district
In the entrance area of the accommodation at Flechtdorfer Straße 57, there is also an administration block from which the operation of the accommodation is controlled and where the central access to the site is also located. For security reasons, the area is surrounded by a fence. There will also be round-the-clock support from a security service. The close supervision of the people on site is also ensured by the DRK district association Korbach - Bad Arolsen. The accommodation is managed and organised by the district's social affairs department.

The costs for setting up the residential quarter - including preparing the site with structural and civil engineering, setting up the containers and tents, supply lines, fire protection as well as all the furniture and technical equipment - amount to about 1.2 million euros. The running costs such as operating costs for container rent, water, electricity, etc. and the costs for services such as supervision, cleaning and security services amount to about 350,000 euros per month. Around three quarters of the costs are reimbursed to the district by the state and federal government.

Refugees move in in March
From mid-March, mainly refugees from Ukraine will move into the residential quarter. So far, they have been temporarily accommodated in the emergency shelter in Allendorf or in shelters in Willingen and Usseln. Currently, between 15 and 20 protection seekers come to Waldeck-Frankenberg every week, who are assigned to the district by the regional council. Experience shows that the number of refugees increases again after the winter months. The need for appropriate accommodation is therefore high. "Together with the city of Korbach, the contracted companies, the fire brigade and our district's own specialised services, it was possible to erect the settlement within a very short time in the past months," van der Horst and Frese said. "We would like to thank all those involved for their commitment."


Keywords:

Social Affairs Department Integration