Rental market: number of social housing decreased

The situation on the housing market in Germany is tense – especially in large cities, many people can hardly afford rents. Nevertheless, the number of social housing decreased in 2020 – by more than 26,000.

The number of social housing in Germany fell by 2.3 percent last year. The bottom line was that in 2020 there were a total of 26,339 fewer apartments with social ties than in 2019, according to a response from the federal government to a request from the Green parliamentary group that the ARD capital studio is present. Mathematically, this means that around 72 apartments are subject to social restrictions every day. First the newspapers of the Funke media group reported.

According to the information, a total of just under 1.13 million social housing units were recorded nationwide in 2020. In 2019 there were just under 1.16 million.

Growth in Hamburg, decline in Lower Saxony

The picture is different for the federal states. In Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia the number of social housing grew. The highest increase was in Hamburg with an increase of 830 social housing.

The largest decrease was recorded in Lower Saxony with 7070 social housing less than in 2019. The social housing stock also fell in Rhineland-Palatinate (minus 6180), North Rhine-Westphalia (minus 5121) and Brandenburg (minus 4959). In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the number of social rental apartments fell by over 30 percent to 3402 apartments.

Greens are calling for longer-term social ties

The housing policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group, Christian Kühn, made the grand coalition responsible for this development. “The Union and the SPD underfunded social housing in this electoral term. They have such great political responsibility for this new low,” he said. Kühn called for more federal funds and a new “non-profit housing”. The “system of only short-term ties” must be broken.