Places for the neighborhood HOWOGE-NEIGHBOROUGHSHIP PLACES

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Neighbors meet in the HOWOGE KIEZORTE in specially selected HOWOGE properties. The KIEZORTE present themselves locally with a range of consultations and neighborhood activities tailored to the respective residential area. They form a contact point for neighborhood cohesion.

In Hohenschönhausen, the Kiezcontainer is located on Anna-Ebermann-Straße, Komşukeller and Komşuhütte invite you to visit at Kottbusser Tor and the Blue Box has been an integral part of the neighborhood at the Buch location for years. Next year, HOWOGE will be able to open another KIEZORT in the Brusebergsiedlung in Reinickendorf.

For decades, HOWOGE has been contributing to social coexistence through targeted funding and self-initiated neighborhood development projects. The HOWOGE KIEZORTE are a part of this. They stand for equality, tolerance and solidarity. They can be used by all tenants and interested parties regardless of age, gender or nationality.

More about the background of KIEZORTE

In some neighborhoods, people need help to help themselves. That is the idea behind HOWOGE's social management. The pilot project bundles advice services and brings them to people's doorsteps.

After only three years of the Kiezcontainer, HOWOGE is optimistic about the development at the Alt-Hohenschönhausen site: Tenant complaints are decreasing, rent arrears are declining and conflicts between neighbors have become less frequent. What does this have to do with the Kiezcontainer? It offers a contact point for a wide variety of concerns and thus fulfills a "care function" in summary. Whether social advice, mobile citizen's office or energy saving tips - all of this finds space in the two connected construction containers that are located on Anna-Ebermann-Straße. How is this possible? In cooperation with good partners in the neighborhood. HOWOGE brought them together and provided the space.

3 people helping each other. Illustration.

What to do if tenant complaints persist?

The starting point was a call for help from the customer center. Complaints from tenants were piling up - about noise, violations of quiet times, garbage and neighborhood conflicts. A tenants' meeting confirmed the perceptions. A joint neighborhood party in cooperation with the local neighborhood meeting place was supposed to provide initial relief. But what would have a longer-term effect?

Creating a place where people are cared for

In order to promote stability and exchange, the social management of HOWOGE wanted to offer "help for self-help" - a place with short distances, offers directly in the neighborhood. The idea of the neighborhood container was born: a pilot project planned for five years. The "container boys" started it all. They listened and tried to clarify the concerns of the tenants. They found out that many residents did not speak German well enough or were illiterate: people seeking advice could neither read the house rules, nor apply for child benefit or register school-age children for school. The container boys helped out. Their motto: "We can do paper!" Then came Corona.

Well received despite pandemic

After a pandemic-related emergency operation and consultation hours at the sliding window, there was a new edition in October 2022. The weekly program is now well filled. The HOWOGE tenants' council Hohenschönhausen is involved, the electricity saving checkers from Caritas and the mobile format of the Lichtenberg Citizens' Office are on the start. But also advice services from FAN FamilienANlauf eV or the citizens' initiative Ausländische MitbürgerInnen eV Since its relaunch, the Kiezcontainer has developed into a well-received advice center in just one year. The project received a positive response both in the neighborhood and beyond and formed new collaborations.