The prime minister founded the state-run “Bayernheim” with big goals – but housing construction is progressing extremely slowly. Criticism comes from the FDP – and the suggestion that the money should be used differently.
Housing construction by the state “Bayernheim”, which was founded in 2018 by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) with big goals, is progressing extremely slowly. The interim balance is manageable, so Söder’s target of 10,000 new apartments by 2025 could clearly be missed. According to the Ministry of Construction, the housing association currently has 234 units in its portfolio, which have been purchased; in addition, 522 apartments are currently under construction. Added up, this does not even correspond to a tenth of the target for 2025. More than three years ago, Söder declared the topic of housing a “central social issue”, objects for middle and lower income groups should be created. Even a first promise – 2000 new apartments by 2020 – was not fulfilled: At the end of 2020, Bayernheim only had 71 finished apartments, all of which were on Hansastrasse in Munich and not built by the company itself.
When Bayernheim was founded, Söder and the then minister Ilse Aigner (CSU) issued the motto: “Build, build, build.” The fact that this requires a long lead time and that the real estate market is competitive was already evident in the debate at the time, with some expecting failure. The company has “turned out to be one of the many castles in the air among Söder’s prestige projects,” says FDP MP Sebastian Körber, chairman of the building committee. These and other data come from his written inquiries. “Söder’s housing policy has failed miserably,” said Körber, the state government should dissolve Bayernheim and give the funds as grants or low-interest loans to successful cooperatives, church or municipal housing companies.
Construction Minister Kerstin Schreyer (CSU) announced that there were 3,460 apartments if planning and development were also included. “A lot will happen here in the next few years.” “Dissolving Bayernheim now and throwing the valuable preparatory work overboard would be irresponsible”. In the BR, Schreyer also reprimanded the municipalities in this context: “We look at every state area, we also build where it’s possible, but we often don’t have a chance.”