Her evening walk with her dog takes the woman from Soest past the Central Accommodation Facility (ZUE) on Hiddingser Weg. And every evening she wonders about the brightly lit rooms and building units at the refugee accommodation. “Everyone talks about saving energy,” she says when she calls the editorial office, “and it looks like Christmas there every evening.”
She is not the only one who is surprised about the brightly lit rooms and parts of the building. But there is a reason why the lights don’t go out in the evening, explains Christoph Söbbeler, spokesman for the Arnsberg district government, which is responsible for the project: “As a matter of principle, energy consumption is limited to what is necessary – and not only because of the current situation. For example, the ZUE Soest uses energy-saving light bulbs, identifies further possibilities for saving energy and implements them as far as possible.
However, because “people seeking protection, some of them highly traumatised, are housed together” in the ZUE Soest, the requirements of the state’s violence protection concept and general safety issues, for example lighting, especially at night, must be taken into account. Söbbeler: “For safety reasons, it must therefore be possible to safely access generally accessible areas such as gender-separated communal sanitary areas, corridors and outdoor areas at any time. This requires, among other things, sufficient lighting to be able to avoid fearful situations, accidents, etc.”
In principle, the people accommodated together also have “the possibility of a free lifestyle and are not obliged to observe sleeping hours or bed rest from 10 p.m. onwards, for example” within the framework of normal consideration. Nevertheless, disturbances of other residents, such as unreasonable noise levels, must be avoided.