Munich's municipal care homes have no comparable temperature data and no full air conditioning, city says

Care homes run by MÜNCHENSTIFT, the City of Munich's elderly care company, have no uniformly recorded temperature data for summer 2026, and residents' rooms in its existing buildings do not have comprehensive air conditioning. This is according to Dorothee Schiwy, head of the city's Social Services Department, in her answer to an inquiry from city councillors.

The inquiry, dated 20 August 2026, came from Arif Haidary, Katharina Horn, Stefan Jagel, Liliana Parente and Christian Schwarzenberger of the Die Linke group on Munich City Council. They cited a snap survey by the trade union ver.di. Between 30 July and 10 August 2026 it collected 801 temperature readings in care homes across Germany. Median values were 26 degrees at night, 25 degrees in the early morning and 28 to 30 degrees during the day, with peaks of up to 45 degrees Celsius. In the survey, 11 per cent of staff reported circulatory collapses, 10 per cent reported dehydration and 9 per cent reported deaths they believed were linked to the heat. The survey covered 321 care homes nationwide.

In its answer, the city said MÜNCHENSTIFT has no temperature data for summer 2026 that is comparable across its sites. However, individual measurements showed that some residents' rooms can at times reach high temperatures during pronounced heatwaves. MÜNCHENSTIFT is now fitting its homes with data loggers so that temperatures are recorded in the same way everywhere. The aim is to assess the strain on residents systematically and to set clearer priorities for action.

Because residents' rooms in existing buildings lack comprehensive air conditioning, MÜNCHENSTIFT says it is first creating centrally accessible, air-conditioned areas within the residential groups.

The Social Services Department said it first addressed heat protection at the 74th Munich Care Conference in May 2017. At that time, the Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine at the University Hospital of Munich worked with seven model homes in Munich to draw up an action plan for residential care. Bidders for city-owned sites intended for new residential care places must now submit a heat protection plan. The department's 14th Care Market Report covered heat protection for the first time and found that Munich care providers, including MÜNCHENSTIFT, already take a wide range of heat protection measures.