Poverty City of Bern continues to fight for bridging assistance
The city of Bern is not yet giving up after a negative decision by the Bernese cantonal governor on bridging assistance for foreign nationals affected by poverty. It is appealing the decision to the Administrative Court.
20.09.2024, 11:15
SDA
The city of Bern launched a pilot project in 2023. It provided low-threshold financial support for foreign nationals affected by poverty who do not receive social welfare. The SVP lodged an appeal against this at the beginning of 2024. Government governor Ladina Kirchen approved this at the beginning of September.
The district governor recognized the bridging assistance as social assistance. She came to the conclusion that the payment was unlawful. This was because it was a violation of the obligation under federal law to register social assistance for foreigners.
The city takes a different view. In a press release on Friday, it emphasized that the experts had attached great importance to creating clear differences to public social assistance when drawing up the bridging assistance. The bridging assistance is designed as temporary assistance that does not lead to a permanent legal relationship between the state and the individual.
According to the municipal council, the first pilot year 2023 showed that the low-threshold assistance for people affected by poverty closed a significant gap in the social security system.
This was also noted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in its accompanying scientific evaluation.
The next step will now be for the Administrative Court to deal with the matter.
