Crimes against homeless people in Germany jump 17 percent, with Berlin worst affected

Sharp rise in reported offences

Data from the Interior Ministry, released in response to a parliamentary question by The Left party, show 2,563 criminal acts against homeless individuals in 2025, a nearly 17 percent increase from around 2,200 in both 2023 and 2024. More than 2,000 of those cases targeted men, and roughly 500 targeted women.

Hotspots and fatalities

Berlin recorded the highest number of offences (592), followed by Bavaria (492) and North Rhine-Westphalia (310). Nine homeless people were killed in violent attacks nationwide, according to police crime statistics. In Cologne, a homeless man died on Wednesday after a dispute with another rough sleeper at a bus stop.

Clear-up rate gap

The clearance rate for violent crimes against homeless people stood at 66.5 percent, compared with 77.5 percent for all violent crimes. For politically motivated crimes, the gap is even wider: only around one in four cases involving a homeless victim was solved, against 66.6 percent overall.

Wider context

The rise in anti-homeless crime occurred even as total recorded crime in Germany fell by about 5.6 percent in 2025, according to police data. The number of people living on the streets also edged up, from roughly 54,000 to 56,000 (a 4 percent increase), but that alone does not account for the much steeper 17 percent jump in victimisation. Broader measures of homelessness, which include those staying with friends or in shelters, count about 475,000 people at the start of 2025, an 8 percent rise from the previous year according to the Diakonie charity.

Political reaction

Sahra Mirow, a Left Party MP and spokesperson for social housing, called the trend an unprecedented escalation of violence. She warned that the official figures understate the problem because victims rarely report incidents and police recording criteria remain imprecise.

We are currently witnessing an unprecedented escalation of violence against homeless people on our streets. The more than 2,500 police-recorded crimes represent only the tip of the iceberg; because of low willingness to report and imprecise criteria, a substantial number of unreported cases must be assumed.