Lost your home or at risk of losing it: help and emergency shelter in Berlin
The German version of this page has been changed, this translation has not. Please rely on the German page.
Have you lost your home? Or do you have rent debt and fear eviction? Then you can get help. Do not wait until you are on the street.
Each of Berlin's 12 districts has a Fachstelle Soziale Wohnhilfe (social housing assistance office). It helps with rent debt, with finding housing, and refers you onward. There are open consultation hours, often Tuesday and Thursday mornings. You can also make an appointment.
If you have no accommodation and cannot help yourself, you can request an emergency shelter (Notunterkunft) in Berlin. This is governed by public-order law (ASOG Berlin). The shelter is intended only for emergencies. It is not permanent housing. It is time-limited.
Per the Senatsverwaltung, this also applies to EU citizens, regardless of whether they receive benefits from the Jobcenter or the Sozialamt.
In winter, there is the Kältehilfe (cold-weather emergency aid, October to April). There you can sleep at night without ID and without registration.
Then different rules often apply.
This page is information, not legal advice.
Not sure whether this route fits you or what comes first? We assess your situation for free and name the right contact points.
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- Go to the Fachstelle Soziale Wohnhilfe earlyIn case of rent debt, a termination notice, or a threatened eviction: go to the Fachstelle in your district (list below). Use the open consultation hours or make an appointment. Bring or have ready: rental agreement, termination notice, reminder letters, ID, and proof of income.
- If you have acutely lost your accommodation: request housingSay clearly that you have no accommodation and ask for housing under public-order law (ASOG). The Bezirksamt (district office) is responsible. There is no entitlement to a specific facility.
- Determine the responsible districtPer the Senatsverwaltung, the responsible district follows your last registered address in Berlin. If you had no registered address in Berlin, it follows your birth month. The exact assignment of month to district is not available here — no confirmed information is available for this.
- No shelter at night: KältehilfeBetween October and April: call the Kältehilfetelefon (cold-weather emergency hotline, 030 34397140, daily 19:00–23:00) or the Kältebus (cold-weather bus, 030 690333690, daily 20:00–02:00, per the Senate page November to March). Emergency: 112.
- EU citizens: use specialized counselingCounseling in several languages is offered by, for example, Frostschutzengel/мост (GEBEWO), TRIA (Caritas), and Klik e.V. Addresses under “Responsible bodies.”
- Rent debt: get informedThe Landesarmutskonferenz Berlin (State Poverty Conference Berlin) offers, per the Senate page, information in plain language and multilingual videos at www.landesarmutskonferenz-berlin.de/mietschulden/.
- Per statements from the Bezirksämter, the emergency shelter provides only “the bare minimum protection from the weather” (Bezirksamt Mitte); it is not a permanent solution, there is no entitlement to a specific facility, and standards are noticeably reduced.
- Practice among the districts can be inconsistent. The Senatsverwaltung's guidelines (2019) state that housing under ASOG should be provided without difficulty in cases of housing emergency; parliamentary inquiries and press reports, by contrast, describe deviations (secondary sources, not confirmed).
- For EU citizens without work, SGB II and SGB XII are often excluded. Per the Senatsverwaltung, the entitlement to housing under ASOG does not, however, depend on this.
- Per the Senate page, assignment to accommodation may not be revoked as a punishment, and may not be tied to cost coverage by the Jobcenter/Sozialamt. Costs for the accommodation can nonetheless arise (see the detailed section).
- In case of rent debt, do not wait: go to the Fachstelle early. Some districts request that documents be submitted by post (example: Treptow-Köpenick).
- In case of violence or acute danger: 110 or 112.
In depth · Legal basis, figures and practice – for counsellors and professionals
Legal bases
- ASOG Bln § 17 Abs. 1: involuntary homelessness endangers fundamental rights (life, physical integrity); the public-order authority must intervene. Anyone unable to obtain accommodation themselves has a right to be housed (Senatsverwaltung, page “Ordnungsrechtliche Unterbringung”). The wording of § 17 ASOG Bln itself was not confirmed.
- ASOG Bln § 59 Abs. 3: compensation to the facility for providing the place. Per the Senate page, payment is typically made by the housed person themselves, by a social-benefits provider through direct payment, or, in limited cases, by the Bezirksamt.
- § 23 Abs. 3 SGB XII: in an exclusion case, limited bridging benefits once within two years (including food, housing and heating, health care, necessary treatment), a hardship provision, and return-travel costs as a loan (Abs. 3a). These excerpts are summaries of the provision (gesetze-im-internet.de); check the exact wording before relying on it.
What housing under public-order law is
It serves to avert acute danger. It is designed to last at most six months per assignment, is meant to meet minimum standards of dignified housing, and is not intended as permanent replacement housing (Senatsverwaltung). The Bezirksamt Mitte describes it as providing the bare minimum protection from the weather; there is, it states, no entitlement to a specific facility.
District responsibility
Per the Senate page, the responsible Bezirksamt is determined by your last registered address in Berlin; without a Berlin registered address, it is determined by your birth month (the birth-month principle). The assignment table was not confirmed. No confirmed information is available for this.
Special case Mitte: the Bezirksamt Mitte's page describes housing under public-order law there for involuntarily homeless people who have fled and hold a residence permit under § 23 or § 25 AufenthG, or a visa for family reunification (Müllerstraße 146, 13353 Berlin, Tel. (030) 9018-42300; Tue and Thu 8:30–12:30, registration until 11:30; Fri 9:00–11:00 emergency consultation hour). Whether and how other groups are served in Mitte does not emerge from this page.
EU citizens
Per the Senatsverwaltung, EU citizens who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have a right to housing under public-order law under ASOG Bln, independent of SGB II/XII benefits or the possibility of returning to their home country. The benefit exclusion under § 7 SGB II / § 23 SGB XII, by contrast, concerns securing subsistence. Whether and how an entitlement is enforced in an individual case is not covered by the available sources. Changes to Grundsicherung (SGB II) in 2025/2026 were not reviewed for this page — no confirmed information is available for this.
Kältehilfe (Senatsverwaltung)
- Season: October to April; low-threshold, anonymous, no ID required; no maximum duration within the season; dinner and breakfast, washing facilities.
- Kältehilfetelefon 030 34397140 (daily 19:00–23:00, Oct–Apr); Kältebus 030 690333690 (daily 20:00–02:00, Nov–Mar); Wärmebus (warmth bus) 030 6003001010 (daily 18:00–24:00, Nov–Mar).
- Per the Senate page, over 1,000 beds November to March, plus an additional 500 places in April/October (the year of this figure is not stated on the page). House rules regarding pets and storing luggage vary by location.
Fachstellen Soziale Wohnhilfe
Tasks: help with rent debt, finding housing, and referral. Example, Treptow-Köpenick (service.berlin.de): help finding replacement housing, advice on renting including rental-deposit loans, debt counseling especially for rent and energy debt; required, among other things: Sozialhilfe application, ID, registration certificate, proof of income and assets, housing documents (rental agreement, termination notice, eviction notice, power-cutoff reminders). These details apply to this district; other districts may differ.
Gaps
- Wording of § 17 ASOG Bln not confirmed.
- Assignment of birth month to district not confirmed.
- Legal consequences and deadlines for termination/eviction (e.g. Schonfristzahlung, grace-period payment) not in the available sources.
- Cost contribution in shelters (amount): no confirmed information is available for this.
- District practice toward EU citizens: only secondary sources (press, inquiries), not evaluated.
- What is “Lost your home or at risk of losing it” about?
- Rent debt, eviction notice, no roof over your head: which office in Berlin helps, what being housed by the authorities means, and what applies to EU citizens.
- Which deadlines and figures matter?
- Ordnungsrechtliche Unterbringung: höchstens sechs Monate je Zuweisung, nur zur Notversorgung: Time limit on each assignment to housing under public-order law (§ 17 Abs. 1 ASOG Bln; Senatsverwaltung, Seite zur ordnungsrechtlichen Unterbringung)
- Kältehilfe: Oktober bis April (Kältebus/Wärmebus: laut Senatsseite November bis März): Season of emergency overnight shelter and mobile aid (Senatsverwaltung, Berliner Kältehilfe)
- Erste drei Monate des Aufenthalts / Arbeitsuche: kein regulärer SGB-II-Anspruch für bestimmte Ausländer:innen: Benefit exclusion that can lead to housing emergencies (§ 7 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1, 2 SGB II)
- Überbrückungsleistungen: einmalig innerhalb von zwei Jahren, eingeschränkt, bis zur Ausreise: Sozialhilfe exclusion case for foreign nationals in need (§ 23 Abs. 3 SGB XII)
- Frist bei Räumungsklage bzw. Nachzahlung von Mietschulden (Schonfrist): Averting loss of housing (Dazu gibt es keine gesicherte Auskunft (nicht in den genannten Quellen); Fachstelle oder Mieterberatung fragen)
- What should I do first?
- Go to the Fachstelle Soziale Wohnhilfe early: In case of rent debt, a termination notice, or a threatened eviction: go to the Fachstelle in your district (list below). Use the open consultation hours or make an appointment. Bring or have ready: rental agreement, termination notice, reminder letters, ID, and proof of income.
- If you have acutely lost your accommodation: request housing: Say clearly that you have no accommodation and ask for housing under public-order law (ASOG). The Bezirksamt (district office) is responsible. There is no entitlement to a specific facility.
- Determine the responsible district: Per the Senatsverwaltung, the responsible district follows your last registered address in Berlin. If you had no registered address in Berlin, it follows your birth month. The exact assignment of month to district is not available here — no confirmed information is available for this.
- What should I watch out for?
- Per statements from the Bezirksämter, the emergency shelter provides only “the bare minimum protection from the weather” (Bezirksamt Mitte); it is not a permanent solution, there is no entitlement to a specific facility, and standards are noticeably reduced.
- Practice among the districts can be inconsistent. The Senatsverwaltung's guidelines (2019) state that housing under ASOG should be provided without difficulty in cases of housing emergency; parliamentary inquiries and press reports, by contrast, describe deviations (secondary sources, not confirmed).
- For EU citizens without work, SGB II and SGB XII are often excluded. Per the Senatsverwaltung, the entitlement to housing under ASOG does not, however, depend on this.
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