Dear Refugee,

I can offer two different flats in Stockerau for a family.

The first one is suitable for 5-6 persons.
It is the club house from the local Alpine Club. Upstairs there is one room with about 35 square meters and another room with about 10 square meters. Downstairs there is a bath room with two toilets (separated for men and women) and a shower with an extra door. Also downstairs there is a fully equipped kitchen and a dining room which is normally used for meetings.
The Alpine Club can offer both rooms upstairs just for you and the rooms and infrastructure downstairs for a common use which means, that there will be a meeting or an activity from the club with kids (just like baking cookies) approximately monthly.
Outside there is a big grassland you could use to meet with friends, have parties or a barbecue.

The club house is situated on the suburb about 1,5km to the railway station. Within 2,0 km there are several supermarkets. We would provide you with some bikes and there are many people offering their help. You could also attend several activities of our club: boat tours, Alpine activities, climbing, walks with children and some sort of gym.

The second one is suitable for a family with a child
I own a house nearby the city-centre of Stockerau. We have to little children. The first one is about 2 years old, the second one is a new born baby. We cannot stand the imagination of little children sleeping on the cold and wet floor in Traiskirchen.
Therefore we decided to offer an extra part of our house (which could be used as a flat). It has an extra entrance. It consists of one room (about 18 square meters), an extra kitchen/bathroom/dining room (about 15 square meters), a storage room (about 2 square meters) and an extra toilet.

Offering this flat means for me some extra work and investment for some infrastructural change and the loss of some extra luxury (as I would have to give up my personal gym, my storage for sports equipment and drinks), but I would do this, to help somebody else. We have a big garden with a playground for our children with a slide and a swing. You could even use our barbecue and maybe our children would enjoy playing with each other. We could offer you some help with administration, health care, learning the language and as I have studied law some help with legal questions.


The location:
Stockerau is an attractive town situated 20 km next to Vienna. It has a railway station with 2-5 trains per hour to Vienna. There are about 16.000 residents with different cultural background (even a Muslim house of prayer), Kindergartens, schools, different shops and stores and a beautiful landscape next to the Danube.

You are welcome!
We offered both locations to the Caritas, which explained that no refugee would be interested in these objects. Anyway, if you are seeking shelter, we could offer you not only a roof on top, a bed and some infrastructure but also some social warmth.
If you are interested in these flats, do not hesitate to get in contact with me.

robe
(short form from the historic Robin Hood who was also dedicated to help the poor)

Well, that was a big surprise.
On Tuesday we had the announced meeting with the representative from the Caritas.

Club House
First we visited the Club House of an Alpenverein section, as the one in my hometown thought of giving refugees a shelter.
The Alpenverein offered one room with about 35 square meters and another one with about 10 square meters. Downstairs there is a bath room with two toilets (separated for men and women) and a shower with an extra entrance. Also downstairs there is a fully equipped kitchen and a dining room which is normally used for meetings.
The Alpenverein offered both rooms upstairs just for the refugees and the rooms and infrastructure downstairs for a common use which means, that there will be a meeting from the Club itself or an activity with kids just like baking cookies approximately monthly.
The representative from the Caritas explained that it is unacceptable for a refugee family to share "their" kitchen on ten days a year. So he would accept our club house either in total, or not.


My flat
I offered a separated section of my house. A flat with an extra entrance. It consists of one room (about 18 square meters), an extra kitchen/bathroom/dining room (about 15 square meters), a storage room (about 2 square meters) and an extra toilet.
The representative explained that he could offer this flat just to a couple, as a family with even one child would be looking for a flat with two separated rooms. He also added, that even a couple would use this flat just for a few month and move out, as soon as they get something bigger/better.
Offering this flat means for me some extra work for some infrastructural change and the loss of some extra luxury (as I would have to give up my personal gym, my storage for sports equipment and drinks), but I would do this, to help somebody else.

Some more amendments
The representative explained some further points, that made us astonished:

"Stockerau is not attractive for residents!"

One square meter of a building lot costs about 300 Euro and a refugee is not attracted by Stockerau? This town is situated 20km next to Vienna; railway station with 2-5 trains per hour to Vienna); about 16.000 residents with different cultural background (even a Muslim house of prayer); Kindergartens, schools, different shops and stores,... What more do they expect?

"Children need a separated room"

30 years ago, my relatives lived with 2 little children in an 40 square meters one room flat for more than four years until they could afford something bigger and a refugee family that fled from war in order to survive needs an extra room for the baby?

"Little flats can just be used for some months"

When I was a student and started to work afterwards I had a flat with my girl friend not bigger/better than the one I could offer now. We had more than 18 happy months in this flat and saved money for a long time until we could think of something else.

"Refugees just want to stay in Vienna. Therefore they can bear some months with relatives on very spare room, instead of moving to another city or village. Even if they have to move out from the former hostel of the caritas they deny moving to another city than Vienna."

Why isn't there more opinion making work (e.g. offered by the Caritas) to convince refugees to move to another city? It would be essential for a good integration if they would live spread all over Austria.

"Don't even think of offering an asylum seeker (from Traiskirchen) shelter, as this is that much worry and work, you could not stand."

When I look into media a voice in me rises and tells me to help. Why are there that bad conditions in Traiskirchen? When a refugee is not attracted by our offers, well, but why has anyone to sleep in a tent instead of using our offered shelters?


What's wrong?
Are these statements from the Caritas true?

Do refugees have to high expectations?

Does the minimum collateral offer them that good perspectives and income, that they can chose among various options?

Is there so little pressure to accept a proper offer?

Are there so many future options in Vienna that it is realistic for a refugee to wait while bearing worse conditions? Will there be a change in this opinion (even for the Caritas) considering the thousands of people arriving in Austria day by day....?

Is there any more need for shelter or is all perfect?

Making this experience - why should I (or someone else) have a pity with refugees and act as a social person?

If the expected standard from the Caritas (or the refugees themselves) is that high: why should someone owning such a flat offer it for a minimum price to them instead to someone else for much more money?

By now, I'm not sure how to deal with these information and there are many ambivalent thoughts in my mind.

robe
(short form from the historic Robin Hood who was also dedicated to help the poor)