INVISIBLE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY

Today, I would like to talk about an issue that concerns us all, even though we too often overlook it: homelessness. In recent weeks, a statement by Chancellor Friedrich Merz has caused quite a stir, when he said that “we still have this problem in the cityscape” – clearly referring to migrants. A remark that not only divides people but also distracts in a fatal way. For while we debate the outward appearance of our cities, about people who supposedly “change” the cityscape, we overlook what is truly shocking: that more and more people have no home at all. That the real problem is not what people look like, but their invisibility – their disappearance from the safety of ordinary life, from the heart of our society.

When a chancellor speaks of the cityscape, he means order, cleanliness, safety. But what about those who sleep on the streets, who shiver in underground tunnels, or who look for a park bench where they can at least rest for a few hours? What about those who have long since stopped being asked how they are? If we are honest with ourselves, it is not the cityscape that troubles us – it is the lack of compassion. We have learnt to look away instead of to listen.

And this very hardship is constantly exploited for right-wing propaganda. The AfD and parts of the CDU/CSU play on people’s fear of social decline and the visibility of public poverty in order to create convenient scapegoats. They point to refugees, to migrants, as though they were to blame for homelessness or inequality. But if we look at their programmes, we find no solutions there, no vision, no genuine concern for those who sleep rough. Quite the opposite – their policies, which dismantle social safety nets, tighten sanctions, fail to cap rents and burden the weakest with bureaucracy, will drive even more people into homelessness. Anyone who wants to make the cityscape “more beautiful” by making people invisible is not solving a problem – they are concealing it.

Homelessness must not be a political slogan. It is not a campaign issue, nor a symbol of morality or order. It is a social issue – and therefore a responsibility we all share. We can no longer wait for the state to fix everything. We must ask ourselves what we are doing – each and every one of us. This is not about guilt, but about responsibility. We live in a wealthy country where no one should have to live on the streets. And yet hundreds of thousands do. That is not the failure of individuals – it is the failure of society.

Let me tell you what I do myself – not to boast, but to show that everyone can contribute something. I talk to people who live on the streets. I listen to them without lecturing. I have learnt that loneliness is often worse than the cold. I donate clothes, help with everyday needs, let people shower or wash their clothes at my place. Sometimes half an hour of conversation is enough to give someone back the feeling of being seen. It’s not a great sacrifice, but it can make a difference.

Even when support services exist, they are not always used – and that has reasons we should try to understand, not judge. Many shelters ban dogs, yet for many rough sleepers their dog is all they have – protection, comfort, companionship. They will not give that up just to spend a night indoors. Other facilities prohibit alcohol or drugs, which is understandable in principle, but many who live on the streets are dependent because they are trying to numb pain, fear, and cold. It is cruelly ironic to offer help and then exclude people precisely because of the struggles that put them there. The conditions in some shelters are also problematic: they open late at night and force people out early in the morning; personal belongings are rarely safe; theft, assault, and intimidation are real dangers. Many feel less safe inside those walls than they do outside.

So what has to happen for real change to occur? First, we must understand that homelessness does not happen overnight. No one simply wakes up one morning and decides to live on the streets. It happens step by step: job loss, illness, a breakup, mental strain, debt, rising rents. We therefore need a system that intervenes early – before someone falls completely through the cracks. We need more affordable housing, genuine social housing, effective rent controls, stronger social support, and more understanding for lives that have gone off track. Prevention is cheaper, more humane, and more effective than any emergency shelter.

But it is not just the state that must act. Towns and communities must also do their part. They can create spaces where people are not merely “accommodated”, but where they regain a sense of dignity. They can foster partnerships – with churches, charities, and private initiatives. We need places where people can feel safe, where they are advised and supported, and where they can rebuild trust. And we need a different attitude – in politics, in the media, and within ourselves.

We have to stop talking about “the homeless” as if they were a single, uniform group. Every person on the street has a story. Some are there because they are mentally ill, others because they suffered a personal tragedy, some simply because they were unlucky. Many do not even want pity – they just want not to be treated like dirt. Once we start to see them as part of our society, rather than as a blemish on its surface, everything changes.

Each of us can do something. We can listen. We can help. We can donate. But above all, we can change our attitude – the way we meet people. Instead of looking away, we can look closer. Instead of judging, we can ask. Instead of blaming politics, we can take action ourselves. It’s the small things that matter: a kind word, a gesture, an open ear. It costs nothing, but it can remind someone that they still belong.

And when I think back to the words of Friedrich Merz, I cannot help but ask: what kind of cityscape does he actually mean? Is it one where people who look different have no place? Or one where we all have a place? When we talk about the cityscape, we should talk about the image of our society – about how we shape it, with humanity, solidarity, and responsibility. A beautiful cityscape is not created through exclusion, but through compassion. It is not made “clean” by pushing people to the margins, but by helping them return to the centre.

The true problem of our cities is not that people from other countries live here. The true problem is that people live here without a roof over their heads, without safety, without hope. Once we understand that, we can start asking the right questions – and perhaps even find the right answers. Not “What does our city look like?”, but “How are the people who live in it?”

Because the cityscape that truly matters is not what we see when we walk down the streets. It is what we feel when we ask ourselves what kind of society we want to be. And when compassion, solidarity and humanity become visible again – then the cityscape will change. Not because people have vanished, but because we have finally begun to see them.

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