I never thought that this could also hit me. That I would land on the street. But now my friend and I are standing in the parking lot before self-esteem in Berlin-Teptou, in which we have just removed the boxes with our things. And homeless. Both work, without rent, without pets, with a total lease budget of 1200 euros per month.
Almost two years ago, I moved to him, shortly after that the owner of the apartment registered his own use. We fought from rent to rent, sometimes within six months, sometimes within two months. In one of the apartments, two rooms, affordable, were “almost sure” that we could capture them. In any case, this meant that our dribulant company was intended up to six weeks before the expiration of the contract. Then he decided to move again. Thus, we had only six weeks to look for something new. Utopian.
And now we are in this parking lot. I call a friend and ask him if he gives us a shelter on the couch for several days. Of course, he does it. Then we go to the next girl in an empty flat room, and then to a friend, on two mattresses in the living room.
Officially, we are now considered “hidden homeless.” According to the Society of Innovative Social Research and Social Planning E. V. falls among them “people who do not contain institutionally and are not homeless without housing”, but since they do not have a lease or condominium, “temporarily looking for refuge in famous or family members”. In the “Homeless” report in 2024, which was entrusted with the Federal Ministry of Life, City Development and Construction, there is about 60,400 such hidden homeless people throughout Germany.
We do not stand out
The number of inconsistent cases should be much higher. Only in Berlin, many tell me that they experienced something similar. If in the office it was not a couch of a friend or one or two nights, then there were several single rents. Isn’t it hidden homelessness? Especially if the rent is paid in cash, and registration is impossible?
Over our time, as hidden homeless, we do not stand out as such. We remain registered with old addresses, we have a mail sent to work through an order to record. Every morning we are going to work, in the evening back to the current house and ask ourselves whether we will have a house soon.
This is despair. We are constantly tired of sleeping on earth and always from going to our storage room if we want to change clothes. We spend the remainder of free time on housing portals. We pay money for premium bills and for Schufa. We record real estate management when we hear that the apartment should start somewhere.
There are enough of them: more than 40,500 only in Berlin. In addition, there are apartments that are incorrectly used as Airbnb or the like. Office vacancies are also huge, in Berlin today is 1.6 million square meters. This corresponds to 32,000 double apartments with a 50 square meter of living space.
We can get reviews about our hundreds of requests for every fifth, from time to time we are invited to visit. Our claims continue to fall. We could get one or another rent, we did not miss a discount of 5,000 euros for three items of furniture from the previous tenant. During the visit, we ask us how many commission we would like to pay, the other pair has already offered 8,000 euros.
We are returning to our camp of mattresses, disappointed, angry to the unpleasant situation in need and supply our friends on Pell. And in the process we were lucky to have people who take us without any hidden motives. There are so many hidden, as well as openly homeless people who do not have this.
After two months on foreign sofas, we find an affordable apartment with one room with an unlimited lease agreement: 40 square meters, bed -loft, kitchen, bathroom. There is no constant solution, but at least your own house.
