Anyone walking through Berlin will come across people experiencing homelessness. Some have temporary shelter in emergency housing, while others sleep in doorways, on the streets, or on makeshift beds underneath bridges.
Berlin has one of Germany’s largest unhoused populations. According to estimates, more than 50,000 people in the city lack permanent housing, and around 6,000 of them live permanently on the streets. The reasons for homelessness vary, from poverty, misfortune, and eviction, to debt, addiction, and criminality.