Status: 10/12/2022 5:14 p.m
The government is not giving up the goal of 400,000 new apartments a year – Chancellor Scholz emphasized this when presenting the results of the “Alliance for Affordable Housing”. Many in the industry consider that unrealistic.
Despite the high energy prices, the federal government wants to achieve the goal of 400,000 new apartments per year. “We are sticking to the goal, that has to be said explicitly,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This is to be achieved with around 190 measures on which the construction industry, trade unions, federal states, municipalities and other associations in the “Alliance for Affordable Housing” have agreed.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Building Minister Klara Geywitz presented the results of the alliance initiated by the government. Times have become more difficult, said the Chancellor. However, nothing has changed in terms of the need for affordable housing. “We need more affordable housing.” This is of the utmost importance for social cohesion.
It is important to make progress step by step, said Scholz. When the goal is reached, one should not lose the pace. “Of course, it doesn’t work without comprehensive support.” That’s why the government decided to mobilize a total of 14.5 billion euros by 2026 – “a record sum,” as the Chancellor said. “We hope that the countries will do their part so that it can work well overall.”
187 measures agreed
Geywitz spoke of “187 concretely attributable and dated measures that must be initiated and implemented by all those involved”. Building and renovation is not a task “that is done overnight”. The goal of 400,000 new apartments per year – 100,000 of them social housing – is “more necessary than ever with increasing demand”.
The minister said it was important to make the processes more effective and to provide planning security through reliable funding. The agreed measures include projects that reduce construction costs, such as serial construction with prefabricated parts. Applications and approval procedures are to be simplified and digitized. At the same time, residential construction should meet climate protection requirements, since greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector must be almost halved by 2030.
According to Geywitz, the agreements are an important intermediate step. “It’s not the end of the process. The end of the process will only be reached when we have increased the capacities in the construction sector in Germany so that we can create 400,000 apartments.”
Associations criticize the target as unrealistic
The tenants’ association, the owners’ association Haus & Grund and the opposition, on the other hand, criticized the government’s expansion target as unrealistic. “The work of the alliance has been overtaken by reality,” said the president of the tenants’ association, Lukas Siebenkotten, to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We are miles away from the federal government’s goal of building 400,000 homes this year.”
Haus & Grund boss Kai Warnecke said that BR with a view to this goal: “You have to say openly and honestly that a lot of things are completely unrealistic, the Federal Building Minister can try as she likes. That’s a goal that can no longer be achieved.” Around 200,000 apartments this year are realistic. “And if you look at the building permits and building applications, it will become less and less in the next few years, and will probably even slip below 100,000.”