Winter emergency overnight stay in Offenbach continues successfully
14.04.2026 – There are many reasons for a lack of shelter, but hardly anyone voluntarily chooses to live without permanent accommodation. This makes low-threshold help all the more important, especially in the winter months.
After the emergency winter overnight stay in the Caritas House St. Josef took place once last winter due to the new construction of the Gerber15 Diaconia Center, operations in the tearoom in Gerber15 were resumed in winter 2025/2026. This was the fifth time the service had been offered since its launch in February 2021. The aim has always been to offer homeless people protection from hypothermia, frostbite and other cold-related health hazards, including death from the cold.
The winter emergency overnight stay ran from December 15, 2025 to March 31, 2026, during which time a total of twelve places were available for women, men, couples and various people on 107 nights. The facility was open daily from 8 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. for the winter emergency overnight stay. Guests were able to use sleeping mats and sleeping bags, were given warm tea and, if required, cookies from the previous day and had access to sanitary facilities, said Thomas Quiring, Director of the Gerber15 Diaconal Center.
A total of 857 overnight stays were counted, which corresponds to an occupancy rate of 66.7 percent. The majority of overnight guests were male (around 98 percent). The average age was around 49 years. The youngest person was 28 years old, the oldest 73 years old. Many of the guests used the service regularly and became regular guests, explained Quiring.
Supervision was provided daily from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. by a social worker in cooperation with a security company. The sleeping bags and sleeping mats required were provided by the "Donate warmth" campaign run by Diakonie Hessen. Guests who regularly used the service were each allocated a personal sleeping bag, which was given to them as a gift on the last night.
Financing the service remains a challenge. The city of Offenbach covers the costs of the security company and the cleaning of the tearoom at weekends, for which Diakonie is very grateful. However, Diakonie bears a large part of the costs itself - including the free provision of the premises, heating and electricity costs, the additional personnel costs and the entire organization, including the daily clearing out and cleaning of the tearoom.
Despite these general conditions, frostbite protection remains an indispensable part of emergency housing assistance. The top priority is and remains the protection of people without shelter from the life-threatening effects of the cold.