Status: 03/22/2023 11:23 am
Living space is scarce in many cities – which is why Minister of Construction Geywitz is particularly recommending that families move to the country. The government is promoting projects that are intended to make life outside of big cities more attractive.
In order to alleviate the housing shortage in the cities, Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz wants to persuade more people to move to the countryside. “In Germany there are an estimated 1.7 million vacant apartments. The majority of these apartments are in rural areas,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
If it were possible to make life in the country more attractive, more people would decide to live there and the housing market in the cities would be relieved. Rural areas offer “a high quality of life, away from the noise of the big city”, especially for families with children.
Among other things, more digitization and an even greater spread of home office are needed to convince more people of life in rural areas, Geywitz said.
790 million euros for the preservation of inner cities
Geywitz announced that she had signed an administrative agreement on urban development funding on Tuesday. “In 2023 alone, we will provide another 790 million euros to finance projects to preserve inner cities and town centers and to make cities and communities more liveable.” In addition, public transport will be improved with the planned Deutschlandticket.
The Association of Towns and Municipalities had previously called for people to use apartments in the country in order to alleviate the housing shortage in the metropolises. Managing Director Gerd Landsberg said it makes sense to better develop rural regions “with good transport connections, for example through new or reactivated railway lines, so that people can live and live there well and inexpensively.” In any case, the federal government’s goal of completing 400,000 new apartments per year is “barely achievable”.