Haars Mayor Andreas Bukowski (CSU) is under public pressure because of the award of a communal apartment. After the SPD parliamentary group had asked for clarification in the local council on Tuesday evening, Bukowski rejected the accusation in the room in a brief statement that he or the local government might have preferred an innkeeper who, in the general opinion, was not in need. “I basically have no influence on awards,” said Bukowski. From the administration it is said that all criteria have been carefully checked. Everything is “watertight” and correct. But the case, which many are upset about locally, raises a number of questions.
The apartment in question is located in the residential and commercial building on the central Leibstrasse, which the municipality had built and where a bookstore recently opened. Above it are apartments and a spacious four-room apartment, as many in Haar long for. The average rent for the apartments in the house is 10.71 euros per square meter. According to the town hall, there are 147 applicants on the waiting list for four-room apartments. There are a total of 500 applications for discounted apartments based on the Haarer model, which are awarded according to a point system that few in Haar are familiar with. There is nothing to do with this on the homepage.
147 families are on the waiting list, the innkeeper comes to the train
Anyone who talks to hairdressers receives moving reports of desperate families who live cramped with disabled children. Lucijana Mur, for example, lives in difficult circumstances with her husband and their two six and nine year old children who suffer from asthma, allergies and migraines. The children have a room together. If the boy coughs, says his mother, the night’s rest for the daughter and everyone is over. For years, with one interruption, she has been on the community’s waiting list. When her husband recently asked at the town hall to be able to see the list of criteria for the allocation of apartments, it was pulled away from his eyes, says Mur.
Now she and her family have returned empty-handed at the apartment on Leibstrasse. The innkeeper, who is well known locally, got it for this. This has brought the barrel to overflow for some. Especially since the restaurateur appears self-confident in public and demonstrates wealth, for example when he drives up to the daycare center in an SUV to pick up his child. He and his family already live in a four-room apartment in the center. The restaurateur himself cannot be reached on Tuesday, but his wife rejects all speculation and says they have been on the list for many years. “We are very, very needy.” The family’s big car is leased. “We work from morning to evening, we make our money very hard.”
Nevertheless, the mayor is vehemently confronted with questions. Specifically, for example, why a four-room apartment is given to a family of three. Bukowski says: “That’s fine.” The award is based on points and he is assuming four people. This is true if you count the almost adult son who, however, moved out of home months ago. According to the mother, he still has a home in the family.
Nevertheless, even people who are favored by the mayor and who know the situation well, speak of a “Watschn” for everyone who is really in need in the current case. For example, they tell of a family where the father had to carry the wheelchair-dependent child up the stairs because there was no elevator. The apartment on Leibstrasse, on the other hand, is barrier-free.
According to Bukowski, the apartment was awarded using the usual catalog of criteria, whereby income limits, for example, must not be exceeded. The apartment was originally intended for the shop owner, but the bookseller doesn’t need it. However, according to Lucijana Mur, it was not offered to those entitled as usual, which the administration denies.
The clarification called for by the SPD in the local council took place on Tuesday evening, especially in the non-public part of the meeting, because, according to the town hall administration, it is about personal rights. Bukowski only said publicly that “dirty laundry” should obviously be washed, because family conflicts also play a role. In general, there is always trouble with apartment allocations. That would not fail to happen if hopes were dashed. Bukowski announced a debate about the award criteria, which should also be made better known.
Bukowski held against his predecessor Gabriele Müller (SPD) for having insisted that “the allocation of apartments must be coordinated with the mayor”. The CSU criticized that at the time. He himself separates there, says Bukowski, but admits when asked that awards are made “in consultation, in coordination” with him. After all, he has to sign the contract.