The lack of affordable housing in Germany is great. Around 700,000 apartments are missing – and the trend is rising. But more money alone will not solve the problem.
An alliance of tenants’ associations, building trade unions and social and industry associations warns of an ever-worsening housing shortage in Germany. “The situation on the housing market is dramatic,” said the President of the German Tenants’ Association, Lukas Siebenkotten, on Thursday in Berlin. The main reason: the increasing immigration coupled with a low rate of construction. The alliance called for a special fund of 50 billion euros for social housing and tax cuts.
According to a study by the Pestel Institute in Hanover and the building research institute ARGE in Kiel, between January and September last year around 1.25 million more people came to Germany than left in the same period. This is the largest migration balance at least since reunification. The main reason is the war refugees from Ukraine.
But according to the alliance, the many new arrivals are finding too little living space. In addition, housing construction is faltering because many people can no longer afford to build in view of higher interest rates and expensive materials.
The shortage is enormous
“There is a lack of at least 700,000 apartments in Germany,” emphasized Siebenkotten. “And we have to assume that this number will continue to rise.” For comparison: around 306,000 apartments were completed in 2021, official figures from the Federal Statistical Office for the past year are not yet available.
Accordingly, there is a lack of affordable housing in particular. The original goal of the federal government envisages the annual construction of around 400,000 apartments, 100,000 of which should be social housing. If these units were actually built, the alliance believes that the problem could be solved in four to five years. However, on the basis of the study commissioned by ARGE and the Pestel Institute, the associations and unions assume that only around 20,000 social housing units were approved last year.
“The federal government is not solely to blame for this misery,” emphasized Siebenkotten. The Ukraine war drove the energy and thus also the production and construction costs to unimagined heights. What is needed is, above all, more funding and financial incentives.
50 billion euros special fund demanded
The alliance, in which, in addition to the tenants’ association, the industrial union for construction, agriculture and the environment (IG BAU), Caritas, the Federal Association of German Building Materials Specialists and the German Society for Masonry and Residential Construction are involved, is demanding a special fund in view of the crisis of 50 billion euros for social housing.
The federal government should raise around three quarters of the sum, the rest of the states. “And as quickly as possible,” it said. In addition to the special fund, the government must reduce VAT for social housing from 19 to seven percent. It also needs more speed in the processing of funding applications – which is also related to the lack of digitization of the municipal authorities – as well as faster planning and approval procedures.
The alliance received encouragement on Thursday from the construction industry, among others. “The study must be a final warning to politicians to finally act and give the housing industry confidence for new investments,” said Tim-Oliver Müller, general manager of the German Construction Industry Association.
Existing use vs. new construction
Hardly anyone questions the fact that more needs to be built. However, there are discussions about how and where. The construction sector is one of the largest CO2 emitters in Germany. From the point of view of environmental associations, new buildings are too often accompanied by surface sealing. They are therefore calling for more attention to be paid to the expansion of existing housing and the conversion from office to residential buildings. An older study by the Pestel Institute and the TU Darmstadt from 2019 sees potential for up to 1.5 million additional apartments.
The head of the Pestel Institute, Matthias Günther, said on Thursday that environmental protection and the fight against a lack of housing can be “partially” reconciled. What is also needed is the faster expansion of renewable energies, in particular to cover the energy consumption of existing buildings in a climate-neutral manner.
On Thursday, the German Environmental Aid also criticized the frequent practice of tearing down buildings and building new ones instead of renovating the buildings in a resource-saving manner. “In view of the enormous strain on the climate and resources and the high demand for affordable housing, it is downright absurd that the building ministries of the federal states do not link building demolitions to ecological criteria and give them free rein,” said DUH Federal Managing Director Barbara Metz.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
