The Volt faction in the Römer [City Hall] expressly welcomes the fact that women living in women’s shelters no longer need to be registered in Frankfurt for 12 months to gain access to the social housing market.
The new registration and allocation guidelines (M 39/23) take into account not only the societal changes that have occurred since the last version but also make an important contribution to increased protection against violence for women. Together with the additional motion by the coalition (NR 680/23), women who previously did not live in Frankfurt will have faster access to the social housing market. Even if this is likely to only involve a few cases per year, it will lead to noticeable relief for the local women’s shelters, so that those in need of protection will have to be turned away less frequently in the future.
The Volt faction in the Römer is convinced that the abolition of the so-called 12-month requirement is an important and long-overdue decision for increased protection against violence, which has been demanded for over four decades by the association “Frauen helfen Frauen” (Women Help Women), among others.
“The tense housing market must not lead to women and their children finding too few safe spaces,” states Britta Wollkopf, spokeswoman for women’s policies. And with regard to the small number of subsidized housing, she continues: “Women are not in our women’s shelters voluntarily. The violence inflicted on them by men forces them to be there. The Istanbul Convention obliges us to do everything for increased protection against violence – this includes providing sufficient spaces in women’s shelters.”
The two proposals will be decided upon in the Main and Finance Committee on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
