Hessen and Immigration

The Hessen (my local German state) State Statistical Office noted yesterday that for 2014.....the state of Hessen took in 26,600 immigrants.

That's seventy-eight percent more than in 2013.

The division?  Only eleven-percent of the 26,600 came from Syria.  Thirty-percent came from Afghanistan.  Thirty-nine percent came from Asia.  The rest were a mixed group.

A high point?  No.....actually, the all-time record was in 1997 with 53,300 people, and most came out of the Bosnia region.

For 2015?  It's difficult to say a prediction but one might guess that it'll go higher than the 2014 number.  I might take a guess at 30,000 or more.

Problems?  The news media is careful now to avoid discussing any problems.  I noticed this week.....one refugee center in the Hessen region got into the news because rat problems and marginal social office assistance.  Two years ago.....you might have seen thirty to fifty stories a month via national and state-run TV.  Now?  There might be three or four stories a month.  My humble guess is that there are a lot of Germans frustrated over the immigration and refugee business and it's best to say as little as possible.

Successful end?  No one is really sure when this immigration/refugee episode will come to a downgraded situation.  Housing in Hessen....particularly in Frankfurt, Hanau, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, is on an odd trend.  We are mostly maxing out in the urban areas.....with massive construction going on in the suburbs outside of the urban zones (Wiesbaden has several thousand apartments either in construction presently or planned through 2016-2020).  In the rural areas.....houses and apartments sit empty.....particularly if the town is fifty kilometers away from any urban area.  Oddly.....the new immigrants don't want to live in rural areas.

So, it's impossible to predict where this trend will finally stabilize.