Homeless people in Hamburg are to be able to settle their estate digitally and free of charge. Four organisations presented the project, called "Straßennachlass", on 5 August.
By their own account it is the first digital advance-planning platform for homeless people in Germany. It closes a gap that only becomes visible after a death. Someone without a flat also has no safe place for papers, contacts and final wishes.
"Dignity does not end with the loss of a flat," said Gerardo Köpke, head of the Hamburg association Gabenzaun, at the presentation. The project is run by Gabenzaun, Straßenhilfe Hamburg, Hoffnungsorte Hamburg and the Lüneburg start-up Chronuu, which offers digital estate management.
The procedure is plain. Users register online, on their own phone or with help from an advice centre. Guided by a questionnaire, they deposit documents, memories and messages for relatives. They name one person of trust, who alone receives access to the data. That person can later inform relatives and pass on the final wishes.
The questionnaire was not drafted at a desk. Homeless people who had sought help at Gabenzaun worked on it, the newspaper taz reports. It picks up what actually counts on the street: what should happen to the dog? Where is the will, if you do not carry it with you? Which relative should receive a message even though contact broke off years ago?
A wristband with a chip complements the portal. Paramedics, police and aid services can use it in an emergency to reach the stored contacts and inform the person of trust. "On the street, important documents quickly get wet or are lost," said Volker Kruse of Chronuu. "Often you do not even know what a dead person was called, or whether they had relatives."
One figure from taz shows how urgent this is: last winter alone, 18 homeless people died in Hamburg. Without papers, a life ends quickly as a note in a file.
Kruse stresses that no business model sits behind the platform. It is a social project, he said, and nobody intends to make a profit from it. Use is to stay free for those affected.
That is exactly what the launch depends on. The platform is due to run three months after the presentation. The project still lacks 50,000 euros in donations.