Living nightmare in Mönchengladbach: Father is desperately fighting for a new apartment!

Living nightmare in Mönchengladbach: Father is desperately fighting for a new apartment!

The housing market in Mönchengladbach is facing major challenges, as the example of Mathias Rabe, a 42-year-old single father and warehouse clerk, shows. After a devastating house fire, he has been living with his son with a friend since April 2025. This happens in cramped conditions: four of them live there in just 45 square meters.

Mathias is desperately looking for a new apartment, but his calls for help and complaints have been unsuccessful for months. The search for a new home is becoming increasingly difficult because he cannot afford a rental price of 14.99 euros per square meter. His decision to quit his job to be there for his son exacerbated this situation.

The fire damage and the consequences

The starting point of his dilemma was a house fire that broke out on December 14, 2022 in an apartment building in the Eicken district. In this incident, around 60 firefighters were deployed to rescue ten people from the building. Two adults and three children were brought to safety using a turntable ladder, while five other people were led out through a smoke-filled stairwell using fire escape hoods. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, but the building was deemed uninhabitable.

Two residents found short-term accommodation with relatives, while eight others had to move to city accommodation. The criminal police are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Lack of housing and rising rent prices

Mönchengladbach is faced with an increasing housing shortage. The pressure on the housing market is increasing, particularly due to an increase in the number of young people in the city. In addition, only a few new apartments are being built, which leads to an increase in rental prices. According to the Cologne Institute of German Economy's housing index, rental prices in Mönchengladbach rose by 12.1 percent between 2022 and 2024, which is higher than Cologne's increase of 10.2 percent.

For Mathias, there remains little hope of finding an affordable apartment. He appeals for political measures to address the high rents. While he looks for a new place to live, his and his son's everyday lives are characterized by uncertainty. The lack of housing in Mönchengladbach makes finding a new home a real challenge.

Given this situation, the question arises as to how long people like Mathias can hope for help and what steps the authorities will take to improve the situation on the housing market.

For further information about the current situation in Mönchengladbach and Mathias Rabe's situation you can Focus and n-tv visit.