15, maybe 16 euros rent per square meter or deposits of 200,000 euros to get a family apartment – it can only make you uncomfortable with the sums that cooperatives say they currently need to realize new projects in Munich. Is this still socially oriented housing? This question is not only asked by the cooperatives themselves, who do not want to earn any money with their projects. The city council will have to ask itself this question in the autumn.
Exploding construction and loan costs, the lack of subsidies and high ecological standards (which were decided with the best of intentions at a different time) – this combination has brought the often highly praised non-profit housing construction by private builders in Munich to the brink of collapse . It can only be revived if politicians make some painful decisions – which, by the way, will also affect the municipal housing associations GWG and Gewofag.
Reductions in ecological requirements should be minimal at best, the climate balance in the construction sector is too bad. Instead, the cooperatives should get even more financial support, for example in the form of interest-free loans. And yes, because the public sector cannot absorb all cost increases, future residents must also make a contribution.
The maximum rents for conceptual rental housing (KMB), i.e. low-priced living space that is also open to people with incomes above the subsidy limits, must rise. The rent may not currently exceed EUR 13.50 per square meter. 15 euros should be appropriate in view of the difficult overall situation. That is still well below the new building rents of more than 20 euros on the open market.
There are good reasons to doubt whether 1,500 euros cold rent for 100 square meters plus a six-figure deposit are still socially oriented housing costs. But a collapse of cooperative housing would be the worse alternative.