Women’s shelters can be life-saving.
Photo: dpa/Peter Steffen
There are 260 women’s shelters and 270 specialist counseling centers in Germany. They protect and advise women affected by violence and their children. Until 2002, the providers of women’s shelters were mainly active without a network – despite high demand. The association Frauenhauskoordination (FHK) changed this. It supports women’s shelters and corresponding specialist advice centers throughout Germany in their work.
The association, which has been based in Berlin since 2010, was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 2001. “Since our founding, the women’s shelter coordination has fought for and witnessed important progress – for example the introduction of the Violence Protection Act or the ratification of the Istanbul Convention,” explains Katrin Frank, Chairwoman of the FHK. “But that cannot hide the fact that the major problems that we denounced two decades ago will remain almost unchanged in 2022.”
In many regions, the care of women affected by violence is still extremely shaky. Nationwide there is a shortage of more than 14,000 places in women’s shelters. There is still no women’s shelter in the Saxon district of the Erzgebirge, there are only two makeshift shelters. The main concern of the FHK is therefore: A federal regulation on a legal right to protection and help in the event of violence. Regardless of which municipality or federal state they come from, those affected should be able to visit support facilities nationwide and claim benefits. The fact that women are not simply given a place in a women’s shelter in a district other than their place of residence does not fail because of a specific ban, but because of administrative law: Because the reimbursement of costs between the municipalities is complex, women are often turned away.
However, there are also deficits in the financing of protective facilities. So far, there are no uniform regulations regarding financing and requirements nationwide. The main sources of funding for women’s shelters are still state funds. For the most part, it is also the municipalities that provide money for a women’s shelter. The districts decide on the need for a women’s shelter, not nationwide distribution keys. The financing of women’s shelters is also fed by women’s cost sharing and the sponsors’ own funds – including donations and fines.
The problem is not only the financing of the women’s shelters and access to them across the borders of districts, but ultimately there is also the question of who has a legal right to a place in a women’s shelter. Many municipalities are still based on the Social Security Code. Some groups are thereby categorically excluded from a place in a women’s shelter. This applies to non-EU citizens, students and trainees as well as asylum seekers and women with an income. Women who are not entitled to benefits under the Social Security Code can only claim help if they pay the costs of counseling and accommodation in the shelter themselves.
The work of the FHK is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Most recently, the ministry made funds available for the “Help System 2.0” to support the adaptation of the help system to the corona crisis. The ministry initially left unanswered to “nd” which funds were also made available by the federal government for the benefit of women’s protection and how these were distributed. In May, the incumbent Minister for Family Affairs, Lisa Paus (Greens), said on Twitter: “We are continuing to expand women’s shelters and counseling centers together with the federal states and are making 120 million euros available from federal funds for this purpose up to 2024.” Nevertheless, the gaps in the current aid system will be closed probably won’t be closed anytime soon.
