"Social City" Programme to be expanded
Federal Minister for Building Barbara Hendricks has warned against overdramatising "poverty immigration" and announced that assistance would be provided quickly. "Qualified immigrants are an asset to our society", she said, and added that "these people need to be met with support not prejudice." She went on to say that the most important factor in the successful integration of immigrants was the neighbourhood. Immigration has always been an issue in urban policy, she continued, and that was the reason for the expansion of the Social City Programme.
Germany, she explained, ultimately benefitted from the immigration of skilled workers, also those from South-East Europe. "In recent years, many municipalities in Germany have developed exemplary and innovative approaches to making life easier for immigrants in cities", insisted Hendricks. The Social City Programme makes a significant contribution in this area. For this reason, the Minister made the following announcement: "We will provide much better and more reliable funding for the Social City Programme than was previously the case, which will allow us to give substantial support to better integrating immigrants."
The programme will support meeting places, neighbourhood centres and family support centres. The neighbourhood managers funded by this programme can also speak to immigrants directly, thus preventing conflicts in the community.
At the same time, Hendricks pointed out that existing problems should not be ignored and made the following statement: "I plan to invite the mayors of particularly affected cities to discuss the situation. Stigmatisation is the last thing affected neighbourhoods need right now. Cities have been promoting integration in Germany since the Middle Ages. We should count on them doing so today."