Aid organisations such as Caritas and the Verein für Gefährdetenhilfe see the profound lack of affordable housing as a major reason for the steadily increasing number of homeless people. They also notice that some of those in need of help behave more aggressively, not least due to alcohol consumption. They see another potential cause as the cheap beer and other types of alcohol that are easily available to this clientèle in the surrounding kiosks. “The city administration department has long been aware of the problems with the alcohol and drug scene around Bonn’s central train station, the bus station and neighbouring Kaiserplatz with the underpass to Poppelsdorfer Allee. Nothing has happened, despite grandiose announcements from the administration department,” criticises BBB councillor Johannes Schott.

The whole area is now dominated by beggars, homeless people and drug addicts, he says. This leads to serious problems and has become an unbearable situation to some extent. “We know that banning the sale and consumption of alcohol is not going to do it and may just move the scene elsewhere,” says Schott. It will only work if it is enforced, he says, i.e policed. Nevertheless, there must be solutions on the table. For the city council meeting, the BBB faction has therefore addressed a major question to the city, asking which measures it has so far implemented together with the local welfare associations and what results have been achieved.

“This question is entirely justified," says SPD social expert Peter Kox. However, a ban on alcohol consumption is not really the solution, he says. “It does not change the person’s lack of prospects”. The bigger picture needs to be considered, and above all the housing shortage must be addressed, he said. “I am annoyed by the Bürger Bund making such requests, because it is the Bürger Bund that wants to prevent housing construction everywhere,” says Kox. CDU council faction leader Guido Deús says, “an alcohol ban is actually difficult to legally enforce, and in our opinion, only leads to displacement to other areas and does not solve the real problem.” However, he expects “more commitment” from mayor Katja Dörner (Greens) and “that she takes the complaints seriously.”

In response to an enquiry, Andrea Schulte from the city press office stated, “the city is always deliberating on how to counteract problematic developments and weighing up the legal options. However, many legal factors are tied to a ban on alcohol sales, because it affects the freedom of trade and therefore the freedom to exercise a profession as a fundamental right.” The hurdles for such a ban are accordingly high, she said, because individual kiosks have to prove that the alcohol sold and consumed leads to disruptive behaviour that goes beyond merely drinking in public. The same applies to a ban on alcohol consumption. And the effect of displacement must also always be taken into account, she said.

Back in 2008, the city council decided for the first time to ban alcohol consumption in the former Bonner Loch, where the scene used to hang out. The Bonner Loch has long been history and the area has now been built over with the Maximilian Center and the Urban Soul commercial building.

(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen, Translation: Caroline Kusch)