VASiB Conference III - "From accommodation for refugees to good housing for all. Shaping solidarity on a full-time and voluntary basis for the municipality of the future"
On 16 February 2026, VASiB Conference III was held at the "House of Democracy and Human Rights" in Berlin.The institute "Sociology for Social Work" is also involved in the VASiB project and holds an advisory, research and scientific function.
The greeting was followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Dr Birgit Behrensen on the topic: "Good housing for all: surveying and localising in the community of the future". She invited all participants to network with each other in order to create inspiring projects and places together. VASiB wants to improve the conditions for people seeking protection in Brandenburg and, with its guiding principle, ensure "housing instead of accommodation". This is best achieved when refugees are not isolated living in shelters, but are integrated into the local community so that a feeling of neighbourliness and mutual support can develop. This is also referred to in visionary terms as the "community of the future", as stated in the invitation to the VASiB Conference III: "It (the community of the future) sees itself as a place of diversity and enables decentralised, self-determined forms of living that also offer refugees space for self-determination, social connection and co-determination". In this way, successful integration can be realised through participation and shared coexistence.
The following workshops could provide further inspiration:
| Workshop I: Civil society counter-strategies to the isolation of shelters |
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| Workshop II: Main and voluntary support in the search for accommodation: dissimilar fields of practice or unutilised synergy potential? |
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| Workshop III: Integration assistance - support for refugees with severe mental health problems (practical workshop) |
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| Workshop IV: Housing provision 'from below': Self-managed housing projects by and with refugees |
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| Workshop V: Rethinking housing in the community of the future! |
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The conference ended with a fish bowl discussion organised by Lotta Schwedler in which the ideas and suggestions collected in the workshops were discussed, as well as contradictions and unanswered questions. The outlook for the future gives hope for positive changes:
The idea and vision of the open-minded community of the future as well as the specific question of which strategic paths and in which old and new alliances we need to initiate changes in order to enable ALL people in Brandenburg to live well and live together in solidarity"(Flüchtlingsrat-Brandeburg).