Barrier-free living in Dessau-Roßlau: An urgent need!

Barrier-free living in Dessau-Roßlau: An urgent need!

An important event on the topic of barrier-free living space took place in Dessau-Roßlau on Monday evening. Almost 15 participants gathered to discuss the challenges and solutions in this area. Daniela Koppe from the SPD shed meaningful light on the issue by explaining: Barrier-free living should be designed in such a way that people can use the rooms regardless of age, health or disability. A basic idea that everyone present shares.

Michael Wermter, authorized representative of the Dessau housing cooperative, described the practical hurdles that need to be addressed in order to make existing apartments barrier-free. It is often the smaller measures such as removing thresholds or changing floor coverings that can be helpful for many tenants. However, he also noted that deeper renovations are often associated with high costs. For example, the annual operating costs for an elevator are around 2,500 euros.

Demand and supply in imbalance

The Dessau housing cooperative responds to tenants' inquiries and offers services such as care or shopping services. Despite these efforts, the problem remains: Of the approximately 4,000 apartments in the cooperative, only just over 400 - which corresponds to only 10% - are currently barrier-free. Over 1,450 barrier-free apartments that have been created through renovation work in recent years show that something is being made, but that demand is far from being met.

Franziska Schmidtke from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation reported on the increasing demand for barrier-free living space. She complained that the offer was far from keeping up. Gabriele Perl, chairwoman of the Dessau-Roßlau tenants' association, underlined the problem by noting that there was a lack of concrete figures on actual needs. This uncertainty leads to an intensive discussion about the perception of the need for barrier-free living space in Dessau-Roßlau.

Future prospects

Despite the existing challenges, there are also bright spots in the development of barrier-free living. Many actors are working to bring about an improvement. Nevertheless, the status quo remains: a persistent lack of suitable, barrier-free apartments cannot be ignored. Sharing information and creating better statistics stand out as necessary steps to meet increasing needs.

The question remains whether the city of Dessau-Roßlau can and will take the necessary measures to improve the quality of life of its residents. The concerns of tenants who require accessible housing must be taken seriously in order to create an inclusive living environment that is accessible to all.