To: the Senate of Berlin, Bürgermeister Kai Wegner and Senatorin Cansel Kiziltepe
Cold weather aid in Berlin NOW
Started by Unterschlupf e.V.
For weeks now Berlin has been experiencing extreme sub-zero temperatures as low as –15 °C. For many people, these temperatures are an inconvenience—for unhoused people, they are life-threatening.
Welfare organisations and voluntary initiatives are stretched thin, but their current capacity is nowhere near sufficient. Currently, there are only around 1,300 emergency overnight accommodations for more than 6,000 unhoused people in Berlin. Many people are left vulnerable on the streets where freezing to death is a real danger.
Our demands:
- Immediate urgent assistance, especially in cases of subzero temperatures. This includes, among other things:
- City-wide expansion of shelter capacity and warm spaces (in gym halls, vacant buildings, etc.) which are low-threshold and open round-the-clock
- Massive expansion of mobile assistance services (Wärmebusse, medical care, blankets, warm meals), that are available 24/7*
- Free public transport tickets for unhoused people during periods of extreme temperatures
- A central emergency call and coordination centre for cold weather aid, available 24/7
- Development of a mandatory emergency strategy for extreme weather. We cannot rely on short-term measures, because there will be other extreme winters and heatwaves in the future. We demand the development of a clear mandatory emergency strategy for freezing temperatures and other extreme weather conditions. This strategy must:
- Automatically take effect when the temperature reaches a predetermined limit
- Guarantee adequate shelters and assistance, and finance these in the long-term
- Be developed in collaboration with social services and aid organisations
Berlin needs a solid crisis plan—we cannot continue improvising
*Current mobile assistance is only available between midnight and 2am, even though help is crucially needed in the early morning hours.
Initial signatories:
Schlafplatzorga Berlin
Human Love Helfer*innen
Kali feminists
Why is this important?
In Berlin it is estimated that there are currently several thousand people with no fixed address, around 6,000 of which are officially unhoused—often without secure access to shelters or regular accommodation. This number only includes official recorded cases; the real numbers are higher, because many people experience “hidden homelessness” or are excluded from official numbers.
As a daytime shelter for unhoused women*, every day at Unterschlupf we witness the existential effects of the cold on our guests/visitors/service users. Refuges like ours, but also emergency shelters like Berliner Kältehilfe (Berlin Cold Weather Aid), warm centers, and mobile warm buses save lives. The risk of dying from the cold increases dramatically without aid like this—extreme freezing temperatures can lead to life-threatening hypothermia within hours.
Local solidarity is essential, but it is not a substitute for the government organising and funding effective safety nets for the people. In a press release in January 2026, Senatorin Kiziltepe promised that “whoever needs a bed will be provided with one”. We are taking her at her word, and we call on the Berlin Senate to finally take definitive political measures to guarantee immediate, comprehensive, and low-threshhold care for unhoused people in Berlin. For this to work, the Senate must have a structured, proactive plan to prepare for future extreme weather events.
At the same time, we must be clear that homelessness doesn’t happen by accident—it is a political choice. The fact that people are at risk of freezing to death in an affluent city like Berlin is a result of policy. In recent decades, housing and social policy such as cuts to social housing, surging rents, ongoing housing speculation, and inadequate rent controls, have led to a considerable increase in the number of unhoused people in Berlin. This number is predicted to rise by tens of thousands by 2029 if no structural measures are put into place.
Our petition calls for immediate safeguards and the development of a mandatory emergency strategy. Both are crucial components of urban policy, which also guarantees affordable housing and social security for all.
About Unterschlupf e.V.: a shelter for all women*
Unterschlupf (https://unterschlupf-kreuzberg.de/) is a day shelter in Berlin-Kreuzberg, that offers more than 40 women* the opportunity to find peace and quiet after a night on the street; to shower, to change into fresh clothes, to eat something and to be with others. Our shelter is a place where women* can feel safe, beyond the precarity of the streets. Unterschlupf is essential to those who visit it—it is a home for them.
Translated by Ciara Bowen
