Red Cross demands horrible rents for asylum apartments

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The Swiss Red Cross (SRK) makes high profits on social housing in the municipality of Wohlen BE. It rents cheap apartments from the municipality and then rents them out for a hefty surcharge – usually to asylum seekers. This writes the “Berner Zeitung”.

The newspaper reports on the case of refugee Judi Ali. He lives in a 2.5-room apartment in Wohlen with his brother, his wife and their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. When the family moved in, they were still receiving social assistance benefits, so they did not have to pay the rent themselves. But now Ali has a steady job and has to pay for the apartment himself.

Surcharge of 143 percent

When he saw the lease, he was shocked: the apartment should cost a whopping 1,964 francs. “We couldn’t possibly have afforded that,” says Ali. In desperation, he turns first to his neighbors and then to the community.

Mayor Bänz Müller of the SP is appalled. Because the municipality rents the apartment to the Swiss Red Cross – for just over 800 francs. The CHF 1,964 demanded by the SRC therefore corresponds to a surcharge of 143 percent!

Müller finds another apartment that the Red Cross has been renting from the community for almost three years. According to the mayor, the aid organization also added 41 percent. All in all, the Red Cross has “earned” a profit of CHF 45,000 in just 29 months.

The Red Cross defends the profits

The Swiss Red Cross defended itself against the municipality, arguing that they had to pay for the mediation, for the transfer and possible evictions. In addition, the SRK always maintains a vacancy rate of five percent, so that homes can become available quickly in the event of an emergency. Most landlords will understand “that we don’t just pass on the rent 1:1 to the clientele”.

The average margin for subletting is 25 percent. Because the margin on many apartments is too small, there is cross-subsidization via apartments for which you can set a higher margin. However, mediation does not make large profits. “In 2021, the SRC Canton of Bern made a small gain in this area and 2022 is expected to end with a loss,” the SRC says.

Canton wants to act

The social service of the canton of Bern, meanwhile, told the “Berner Zeitung” that the allowance was “definitely too high in this case”. The Red Cross went through the books with its real estate portfolio.

But that’s not enough for the canton. According to the social service, the intention is to determine the maximum surcharge that organizations such as the SRK may ask for the re-letting of asylum apartments. (sq)

Source:Blick