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100,000 apartments per year
What about social housing?
100,000 social homes a year: The federal government launched its pledge last year. But plans for subsidized housing are shaky. Just days ago, an alliance of trade unions, social organisations, tenants’ associations and industry warned of the “collapse” of social housing. The tenor was that the 100,000 mark could only be reached with significantly more resources than originally planned. The Social Housing Alliance relied on figures from the Pestel Institute, which show that social housing has been declining for many years. That number dropped by nearly 27,400 to 1.1 million in the past year alone, they said.
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Current figures from Berlin also cast doubt on the project. As “Tagesspiegel” reports, not a single application for financing the construction of social housing was received this year. This was confirmed by the newspaper Senate Department of Urban Development, Construction and Housing. In fact, the capital had set a target of 5,000 social housing units per year.
The current situation in Berlin is related to disagreements in the Senate regarding the promotion of social housing. However, a number of new construction projects are currently stalled elsewhere. Matthias Günther, head of the Pestel Institute, communicates with many builders who build social housing. “Right now, the housing companies are telling me that they have stopped everything that hasn’t started yet,” he tells the German editorial board (RND). In many places, rents are no longer valid.
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There are various obstacles
Jan-Marco Luczak, representative of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on housing and building policy, sees several reasons for this development. “Construction and energy prices are exploding, interest rates are rising, there is a shortage of skilled workers and building materials,” he told RND. Many projects would stop or be canceled altogether. Luczak criticizes the government: instead of taking decisive countermeasures, the traffic light government and the Berlin Senate would make the situation worse. “At the federal level, multiple funding freezes create the most uncertainty. In Berlin, the Senate has not corrected outdated funding conditions for several months,” he complains.
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Can housing finally become affordable again?
In fact, 100,000 new social housing units should be created every year, but by 2021 there were only 30,000. Why is this – and what can municipalities do to change this?
Investors now urgently need a subsidy perspective, both for social housing and for new construction in general. “Also, planning processes must finally be digitized and thus accelerated.” Instead of additional cost-cutting regulations, we need a radical cleanup of building regulations.” Berlin now has a building code that makes things even more expensive and is currently pending in the parliamentary process. This creates the most uncertainty among builders – and is “poison for the desired new building”.
It is also important to change the system. Subsidized housing must no longer fall out of the social bond. Finally, once social housing, always social housing must be applied.
Karen Lay,
representative of the housing policy of the left group
The left faction also receives criticism. “Social housing is shrinking,” said Caren Lay, RND’s housing and buildings policy spokesperson. Social housing fund – just under 1.1 million. “This decline needs to be stopped urgently. But the federal government doesn’t seem to recognize the extent of the problem,” Lay said. Now much more money is needed – the left demands 15 billion euros for social and non-profit housing. But it’s not just about that: “It’s important to change the system as well. Subsidized housing must no longer fall out of the social bond. Finally, it must be valid: once social housing, always social housing”, said the leftist politician.
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Radar of the capital
Personal impressions…
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