I’ve noticed a few people there at late hours, alone. I’ve seen mattresses, makeshift beds, and signs of people living there for long stretches (satellite dishes, large furnitures, large water tanks, drying clothes, warming up a can of beans with fire alone in winter after the whole area had already been cleared). There sometimes are a lot of extensions and structures that look like they go far beyond gardening sheds. There have been a number of fires in these areas, which makes me wonder if unsafe living conditions play into the issue (e.g. cooking with gas). The first news article linked below also mentions that there was a 89 year old lady who was living there permanently but no other information. And I would consider it a lot to have fires almost every year in such a small area.

Note that I based most of my observations on one Kleingarten area that has recently been cleared and from what I can see looking out of the railway.

I want to know if those Kleingärten hold some cases of hidden poverty like older people living there alone and permanently in inadequate conditions. And if that is a very local and small issue or if it’s surprisingly widespread.

Disclaimer: I know there is a Bundeskleingartengesetz and I know it is illegal to use it as permanent accomodation. I know that these areas are supposed to be used for gardening only and have a certain connotation of having a “kleinbürgerliche, graue Spießigkeit”. Most German people therefore reflexively dismiss the idea that there’s anything “serious” going on there. But I’m interested in the reality of what is really happening

https://www.regiotrends.de/de/polizeiberichte/index.news.517513.brand-einer-gartenhuette-in-freiburg-betzenhausen—brandursache-ist-derzeit-unklar-und-gegenstand-der-ermittlungen.html

[https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/110970/5854766](https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/110970/5854766)

[https://www.baden.fm/nachrichten/gartenhuette-und-unterstand-in-freiburg-betzenhausen-abgebrannt-600156/](https://www.baden.fm/nachrichten/gartenhuette-und-unterstand-in-freiburg-betzenhausen-abgebrannt-600156/)

[https://taz.de/Wohnen-in-Schrebergaerten/!5644683/](https://taz.de/Wohnen-in-Schrebergaerten/!5644683/)

[https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/stadt-geht-gegen-kleingartenbewohner-vor-6ZCLDSO6XARFFZFUCEPWU3GKVI.html](https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/stadt-geht-gegen-kleingartenbewohner-vor-6ZCLDSO6XARFFZFUCEPWU3GKVI.html)