Refugee container housing dismantled in Ludwigsburg district

In the German state of Baden-Württemberg, container facilities built to accommodate refugees are being dismantled in Steinheim and Murr due to a significant decrease in demand.

The container complex in Murr, which once had 80 places for refugees, was expanded to 150 due to increased refugee numbers a few years ago. However, the cost for maintaining these facilities has proven to be too high, given the current low occupancy. According to Mayor Torsten Bartzsch, the dismantling of the container housing complex in Murr is a challenge for small communities. The foundations will remain, though, in case containers need to be built on them again in the future.

Similarly, the city of Steinheim rented container buildings in 2023 to accommodate refugees from Ukraine. However, the need for these facilities has decreased significantly since then, leading to their eventual dismantling. The cost of unoccupied container buildings in Steinheim is approximately 10,000 euros per month.

Another example is the accommodation for 55 refugees near Marbach am Neckar, which is still uninhabited despite being completed. The city built the accommodation at a total cost of 2.85 million euros, with 450,000 euros subsidized by the state. Due to the subsidy, the city can only rent the empty building to refugees.

Interestingly, the number of asylum applications in Baden-Württemberg has been decreasing for years. In August 2023, there were 775 asylum applications compared to 1,521 in January, marking a 50% decrease since the beginning of the year. Compared to two years ago, the number of asylum applications has decreased significantly.

Despite the decreasing demand for refugee accommodation, many places in Baden-Württemberg still have fully utilized capacities or are being expanded to accommodate more refugees. The dismantling of container facilities in Steinheim and Murr does not seem to reflect a broader trend of decreased need for refugee accommodation across the state.

The container housing complex in Murr will be completely dismantled by the end of October 2023, while the city of Steinheim has not yet announced a timeline for the dismantling of its facilities. The subsidy in Marbach am Neckar remains in effect if the accommodation is occupied by refugees within six months of completion.

As the number of asylum applications continues to decrease, it will be interesting to see how this trend affects the need for refugee accommodation in Baden-Württemberg and other parts of Germany.