Main-Spessart gives more money to women in need

In the future, the Main-Spessart district will pay more money for women and girls in need, for refugee counseling and for supporting caregivers in the form of voluntary grants. The Committee on Social Affairs and Seniors approved four motions.

Most of the money will go to the women’s shelters in Würzburg, which are to be increased from the current twelve to 18 to 19 places. This would increase the annual operating costs by around 100,000 to 482,000 euros and the district’s share of this by 23,000 to 108,600 euros. Even during the construction phase, which is estimated to run until 2023, the district share will increase by 15,000 euros for an interim solution with four additional spaces.

Two women’s shelters in Würzburg for the region

The two women’s shelters in Würzburg are operated by the Labor Welfare Service and the Social Service of Catholic Women. The districts of Main-Spessart, Kitzingen Würzburg and the city of Würzburg pay the costs, because two women from the region should find refuge there. According to the needs calculation of the Bavarian State Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Affairs, 19.44 women’s shelter places are necessary.

In 2019, 66 women were temporarily in the two women’s shelters, 41 of them from the region of two and eight from the Main-Spessart district. Compared to the previous year (46/26/5) that is a significant increase. 19 and 20 women in need were taken in from outside. According to Manuela Gold from the Social Welfare Office, this is not unusual, the women’s shelters help out across the region.

While the committee and ultimately the district support the enlargement of these two women’s shelters, a violation by the district of Würzburg for its own women’s shelter with eight or nine places is rejected. This would increase the district’s share of costs from just under 86,000 to over 156,000 euros.

The association “Wildwasser”, which turns against the sexual abuse of girls and women, applied to the social welfare office for the first time for a grant of 12,500 euros. The youth welfare committee approved an identical application to the youth welfare office at the beginning of November. The social welfare office did not consider this amount of support to be appropriate and referred to the support of the women’s shelters, where an additional half a job is funded, as well as the affiliated intervention center (pro-active advice) with 5000 euros per year. Instead, it proposed an annual grant of 3500 euros, which the committee decided by a majority. District councilor Anja Baier failed with her application for 7,000 euros.

Caritas takes over the tasks of the district

The Caritas Association Main-Spessart will also receive more money from the district’s social budget in the future. For refugee and integration counseling, the annual staff cost subsidy decided in December 2019 doubles to 20,000 euros. This advice is a government responsibility, but in Main-Spessart it is provided exclusively by Caritas. For this, three employees share two positions.

Government grants are insufficient for the actual costs; Because the Diocese of Würzburg has only paid the remaining costs for one position since 2020, the district subsidy was decided in 2019. From 2021 there will be a new funding guideline from the Free State; However, the Caritas Association stated that the 136,000 euros in personnel costs are offset by only 92,000 euros in funding. This creates a shortfall of 44,000 euros.

The Caritas district association applied for a subsidy of 4,000 euros for the specialist center for caring relatives established in Karlstadt in 2018. Although this is twice as much as before, the administration judged it to be appropriate. For the benefit of the caring relatives, such as advice and training, cooperation with the planned care support point is also planned. The committee agreed.

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