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Why are there homeless in Berlin/Germany?
The long story:
I had a conversation with a colleague on giving alms to the… Id really appreciate replies from anyone who has worked with the homeless and has some constructive feedback on the issue.
The long story:
I had a conversation with a colleague on giving alms to the homeless and they had a strong position against giving alms to the homeless since they were there "by choice" or by "slacking off". They explained to me that the Government has several schemes where they give money like unemployment benefits and H4 payment which should ensure that at least everyone would have a home and an acceptable life. I understand that the existence of homeless in countries with less social safety net but given these benefits why are there still some on the streets?
Reflecting on that argument, i dont buy in the "by choice" argument but rather would like to believe there is an underline to those policies? maybe there is some crack in those policies where some fall into and end up homeless? I find it completely illogical for anyone to find it rational to be homeless in winter weather.
I am hoping someone can explain real cases of how someone ended up being homeless due to a crack in policy or rather by choice.
follow-up question: is there an institution where one can donate money to or volunteer that works with the homeless
i used to work at the Kältebus too, and the thing people miss is how mental health plays into it. some folks have undiagnosed stuff that makes it hard to keep up with the paperwork, and the system is too rigid to adapt. once you miss a few appointments at the Jobcenter, they cut you off, and digging out of that hole is brutal.
for donating, the Café Ueberleben at Warschauer Str 75 is solid, they do free meals and have a clothing closet open on wednesdays. they're smaller than the big orgs so
tbh the by choice thing ignores how many people fall through the cracks due to the system itself. i know a guy who was a chef at a decent restaurant in Kreuzberg, had a steady job and a flat, then his boss went bankrupt without paying wages for 2 months. he had to use his savings to cover rent, then the jobcenter took forever to process his application because his former employer kept delaying the paperwork. by the time he got approved he was already sleeping on a friend's couch, and once you're not on a lease it gets way harder to prove you need housing assistance.
theres also the issue of the housing market itself. even if you get hartz-iv approved for rent, you need to find a place within the Mietspiegel limits, which in Berlin is basically impossible in popular areas. i had a friend who was on benefits and spent 6 months looking for a flat under 450 warm in Mitte before giving up and moving to Brandenburg. some people just cant afford to move that far from their jobs or support networks.
for donating, I'd recommend the Kältebus project by Berliner Stadtmission, theyre always looking for people to drive the routes or hand out supplies. also check out the Notübernachtung in the former Tempelhof airport hangar, they take volunteers for the overnight shifts and you actually see the real need up close. theres a donation box for clothes and sleeping bags at the main entrance on Columb
the "by choice" thing is so oversimplified it hurts. i volunteered at the Kältebus last winter and the stories i heard were mostly about bureaucratic delays or addiction issues that the system just cant handle fast enough. hartz-iv is decent on paper but if you lose your ID or your bank card while couchsurfing, getting a replacement can take weeks at the Bürgeramt and in that time you're basically invisible to the system.
for donating, the Berliner Obdachlosenhilfe at Potsdamer Platz 1 takes clothes and sleeping bags directly, no middleman. they also have a cafe where you can just sit and talk with people, which honestly does more than handing out cash. the Kältebus is great too but they need volunteers more than money, especially after 10pm when most people dont want to go out.
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What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.