Despite the decrease in refugee flow, housing shortages are forcing German cities to accommodate thousands of displaced people in hotels. In the first half of 2025 alone, 16 major cities spent over 193 million euros on temporary housing for refugees, including Ukrainians. This is reported by UNN with reference to 20 minuten.
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Although the number of asylum seekers in Germany is decreasing, housing in cities is scarce. This has significant consequences for the accommodation of refugees who are entitled to housing, the publication writes.
Thousands of refugees, including Ukrainian war refugees, are living in German hotels at the expense of the cities. In the first half of 2025 alone, 16 major cities spent over 193 million euros on hotel accommodation
– Bild reported earlier.Overview of city expenditures
According to the report, 5303 refugees are living in 55 hotels in Hamburg. Refugees are also accommodated in hotels in Berlin. According to the State Office for Refugee Affairs, as of the end of June, 3340 people were living in 13 hotels. It is unclear how many of them are fully serviced. If it were half of this number, the daily costs, according to “Bild” calculations, would be about 203,000 euros. In the first half of the year, the German capital paid a total of just under 37 million euros for hotel accommodation.
In Cologne, according to the report, 1307 refugees are living in hotels. The cost in the first half of the year: 12.26 million euros. Frankfurt reported expenses of about 2.8 million euros for accommodating 622 refugees in hotels. Munich reported expenses of 49 million euros for the same period. Hanover declared expenses of 527,000 euros. In Leipzig, 120 refugees are currently living in former hotels.
Dortmund, Potsdam, Bremen, Chemnitz, Dresden, and Rostock stated that they would not use hotels as initial accommodation. Stuttgart and Essen did not provide any information.
Hamburg records the highest costs
Hamburg records the highest costs. According to the Department of Social Affairs, regular accommodation places there are 94% occupied. Therefore, the city continues to rent hotel rooms. The daily fee per person is 83 euros, including food, security, and cleaning.
From January to June, 86.2 million euros were paid to operators for this purpose
– stated in the publication.
Among the hostels used is the four-star International Hamburg hotel, which accommodates almost 500 people, mostly Ukrainians.
For reference
The figures are provided by the responsible authorities and refer to the reference date of the end of June 2025.