Eilenburg: City Council decides against the extension of the refugee accommodation!

Eilenburg: City Council decides against the extension of the refugee accommodation!

A significant decision recently made in the Eilenburg city council: the shared accommodation for refugees on the Schanzberg will be closed at the end of 2025. This accommodation, which has been operated since autumn 2023 and offers 96 places, is now facing what led to hot debates at the meeting on July 8, 2025. A majority of the city councils spoke out against a three -year extension of the lease, which expires on December 31, 2025, such as Situation, the mayor and two CDU city councilors voted against the extension. Max Seehaus from the Freiereirers emphasized that the debate was not about the presence of refugees, but about the location. The closure of the accommodation means that the refugees have to move until the end of 2025. The district has already made it clear that there is no way to accommodate the refugees outside of Eilenburg, which further complicated for those affected.

figure situation in the context of asylum

The current situation in Eilenburg is part of a major problem that emerges in Saxony. In Dresden, too, six transition homes for asylum seekers of closures were threatened in Dresden. These facilities were built on urban land two years ago and their rental contracts are not extended due to a strongly sunken number of newly incoming asylum seekers, such as mdr.de holds.

It should be taken into account that the district of North Saxony still adheres to an accommodation concept that provides for a total of five shared accommodation in central cities of northern Saxony. District Administrator Kai Emanuel regrets the decision, but makes it clear that there is still a need for accommodation, even if the numbers of the newly arriving asylum seekers have decreased.

In addition, there is the general situation in the German asylum system: In 2023, around 352,000 asylum applications were made, which has been marked by the highest level since 2016. Above all, people from Syria, but also Ukrainians who flee due to the war, are looking for protection in Germany. The legal situation enables politically persecuted asylum, but economic needs and generally predicament are not sufficient to justify an asylum application, such as the information from Statista clarify.

The developments in Eilenburg are therefore part of a complex structure that cannot be viewed only solely. It remains to be seen how the situation for the refugees will continue to develop and whether there will be new solutions that ensure decent accommodation.