After Closure of Ukraine Arrival Center, a Housing Problem Looms

Ukrainians must register with the police in Austria and apply for basic services at a social institution, such as the Vienna Social Fund, if they wish to use them. Until the application is approved, the arrival centers of the federal states are responsible for their accommodation.

Vienna Social Fund Closes Ukraine Arrival Center

Problems have arisen in recent months with this latter point. With the exception of a smaller facility in Linz, the respective states have closed all facilities except those in Nenzing (Vorarlberg) and Vienna-Hütteldorf. Now that the black-blue state government in Vorarlberg has also closed its quarters, Vienna has had enough. Last week, the Vienna Social Fund announced that the facility in the federal capital will also close at the end of the year. This was recently exceptionally heavily occupied with over 200 people. This means that from January, not a single bed will be available for displaced persons before they are admitted to basic services.

States Responsible for Ukrainians from the Start

The difference from asylum seekers is that the states are responsible for Ukrainians from the start. For asylum seekers, however, the federal government handles the initial registration in the initial reception centers. The Ministry of the Interior points out that the states receive a flat-rate cost contribution of 190 euros per war displaced person in arrival centers. In basic services, the federal government must then also bear 60 percent of the expenses. However, this amount is either too little for the states, or they simply do not want to have an arrival center. Vienna argues that the federal capital has been bearing the greatest burden of refugees for years. By the end of September, Vienna fulfilled the quota between the states to 198 percent. In absolute numbers, this is 11,852 more people than it would have to care for. To illustrate: Currently, nearly 11,000 Ukrainians are housed in the federal capital alone.

Federal States Partially Missed Targets Clearly

No other state meets the specified quota, although Burgenland, Styria, and Vorarlberg are at least close. It is quite different in Upper Austria, Carinthia, and Tyrol, where the targets were not even met by 60 percent. For Vienna, an additional effect is that Ukrainians, unlike asylum seekers, can choose where to settle. Asylum seekers can simply be assigned to the federal states. While the Ministry of the Interior, due to lack of responsibility according to the current agreement, does not intend to take any measures for January, Vienna sees the Interior Ministry as being challenged. The responsible city councilor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) recently stated that he assumes the Minister of the Interior, together with the Federal Care Agency (BBU), will ensure the appropriate measures. The BBU, on the other hand, has repeatedly appealed to the states to fulfill their responsibilities.

2,000 New Arrivals in September

How to get out of the difficult situation is currently unclear. Practically, it would be possible to let Ukrainians wait for their admission in the initial reception centers, as these are currently not overly occupied. In Traiskirchen, around 500 people were recently staying. However, the federal government would have to be willing to take over the tasks of the states, which currently does not seem to be the case. However, a solution should probably be found, as 2,000 displaced persons from Ukraine arrived in Austria again in September, and given the approaching winter and the ongoing Russian aggression, it is not assumed that these numbers will decrease in the coming weeks.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.