Germany: More than half a million homeless, new report says

More than half a million people in Germany are homeless, according to federal government statistics released on Wednesday.

Germany's second publication of its Homelessness Report revealed around 531,600 people are without a permanent shelter.

According to the statistics and the empirical survey, around 439,500 people were housed in the emergency housing assistance system as of the end of January, beginning of February 2024, while a further 60,400 people were staying with relatives, friends or acquaintances.

But with tens of thousands of others living on the street or in temporary accommodation, "there are a total of around 531,600 homeless people living in Germany," the report stated.

Most homeless people are male

In total, around two-thirds of those recorded homeless are male. 

The statistics also revealed more than half of those without a permanent shelter had experienced violence since becoming homeless.

The new figures represent a significant increase on the previous numbers in the first report published in 2022, which recorded around 263,000 people without a permanent home.

The Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB), which presented the new figures on Wednesday, explained the almost 100% increase was down to underreporting in the previous paper, but this is now gradually being corrected.

In addition, the current report also includes around 136,900 Ukrainian refugees who remained in refugee accommodation due to a lack of alternatives. Most of them came to Germany since the previous investigation.

Not just an urban problem

The Minister of Housing, Urban Development and Construction of Germany, Klara Geywitz, said that the report "shows that homelessness takes different forms and has different causes and is by no means a purely urban problem."

She added that the German government was taking steps to alleviate homelessness.

"To create more affordable housing and to make it possible for homeless and houseless people to find their own accommodation, Germany is investing more than €20 billion [$20.6 billion] in social housing by 2028," the minister said.

By 2030, the German federal government's aim is to eliminate homelessness entirely.

No internationally agreed definition of homelessness exists, and statistical definitions vary widely from country to country. In addition, the collection of data also presents problems.

Nevertheless, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless suggested last year that close to one million people were homeless every night in the EU and the UK. The real number of homeless people, though, is almost certainly much higher.

jsi/ab (AFP, EPD, Reuters)