Homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies and action plans of the Berlin Senate

Abstract

One of the social groups particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic is people experiencing homelessness, as they are especially vulnerable to infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV‑2). Still, the pandemic also drastically affected their livelihoods, as parts of municipal emergency assistance services have broken away. This article aims to highlight emergency responses of the Berlin Senate to people experiencing homelessness regarding COVID-19. The Senate is responding to the issue, among other things, by expanding and refiguring the existing contingent of shelters run by municipal emergency assistance services, preventing transmission of COVID-19 and treating those infected, and establishing mechanisms of tenant protection. The paper discusses to what extent Senate measures and interventions at the onset of the pandemic can address the emergent need for homeless assistance services in Berlin.