More service in Hassel: Caritas and Deutsche Annington invest in tenant satisfaction

Gelsenkirchen, 4 May 2009 – With the support of the Deutsche Annington Real Estate Group (DAIG), Caritas Gelsenkirchen is opening a handicapped-accessible advice centre and a café cum meeting place for residents of the "Eppmanns-Siedlung" housing estate in the Gelsenkirchen district of Hassel. Deutsche Annington is providing Caritas with the specially renovated rooms rent-free for initially two years. The necessary furnishings and equipment for a kitchen and a café cum meeting place worth € 15,000 was donated by the Deutsche Annington Foundation. The lease was signed today.
"We want to go where the people actually live," says Peter Spannenkrebs, managing director of Caritas in Gelsenkirchen. "In future, care and social support of people will centre on support in the community." Elderly people, people with health limitations and dementia sufferers are increasingly not getting all the social services they need, above all as a result of the demographic change. These gaps in the social service network are to be closed with this new centre and other home care and welfare services as well as home and garden maintenance. Elderly people will thus receive a comprehensive range of care and welfare support to supplement the services already offered in the district. Furthermore, other extensive services can be provided, or additional services arranged, for their relatives to make life easier for them. And residents can come along with all their questions.
"Some 7,000 people live in Deutsche Annington apartments in Hassel and we are delighted that in Caritas we have found such an experienced partner to give our tenants advice and support," says Caspar Nonnenmühlen, managing director of Deutsche Annington Ruhr GmbH.

Ernst-Georg Tiefenbacher, chairman of the Gelsenkirchen tenants' association: "The tenants' association warmly welcomes the project and is offering its help and support in housing matters."
In addition to the offers of advice and support from Caritas, a café cum meeting place for residents is being set up in the centre. Here Caritas will be offering a low-priced midday snack on working days. During the rest of the day the rooms can be used for "meeting and chatting", for dealing with relatives’ questions and for offering additional help to the families. The first few months will be a time to gain experience so the range of services can be adapted and, if necessary, extended, to meet the ever changing needs of the residents.

Contact:
Deutsche Annington Real Estate Group
Katja Weisker
Telephone +49(0)234 314 – 1901        
Mobile       +49(0)174 9224995        
katja.weisker@deutsche-annington.com