The municipality of Taufkirchen is threatened with an undignified curiosity with its 44 rental apartments on Riegerweg. The newly built apartments should be ready for occupancy on February 1st, but many of them could then be empty for the time being. The reason for this is the lack of a catalog of criteria for the allocation of rental apartments, which are highly coveted at a price per square meter of ten euros. Although the municipal council had already decided in January 2020 to create a corresponding guideline at the request of the Free Voters, the municipal administration of Mayor Ullrich Sander (independent) has not been able to create a template for such a catalog of criteria in almost three years. This is now to be decided at a special meeting of the municipal council in December.
Nevertheless, there is a risk of a delay in the allocation of the apartments on Riegerweg, which was met with anger and harsh criticism at the most recent municipal council meeting. Rudi Schwab (Greens) spoke of an “oath of disclosure by the administration”. Julius Ammereller (CSU) also expressed his incomprehension that nothing had happened in the past few years – despite repeated inquiries in the municipal council. In their application, the Free Voters had already submitted a detailed draft for a “guideline for the allocation of low-priced rental apartments to locals in the municipality of Taufkirchen”. According to the wishes of the municipal council, this should have been checked and made legally watertight – which, however, did not happen.
“I can understand the anger of the municipal council,” says the mayor. “There have been delays here.” He declined to comment on the reasons when asked. In the municipal council meeting, Sander had pointed out that the responsible town hall employee was not present. To which Rosemarie Weber (SPD) replied: “We are against pointing fingers at administrative staff.” Rather, there is “someone who has their hat on” in the town hall, said the SPD politician after the meeting, referring to the mayor. “And he actually has to set a priority list of what’s most urgent.” Weber also blames himself and the other council members “of maybe ten percent”. Because: “We should have asked more energetically.”
The council now has to hold a special meeting in December
However, both the SPD municipal councilor and the mayor assume that the municipality will get away with a black eye. According to them, the allocation of municipal rental apartments may be delayed by a month in some cases – if the apartments are actually ready for occupancy on February 1st, according to the mayor. In addition, the municipal council would have to consider leaving a handful of apartments empty for the time being – as a buffer if the town hall wanted to recruit nurses or educators, for example. After all, people from these professional groups should be given preference in the rental apartments on Riegerweg. In addition, the apartments are intended for people “who earn too much to get social housing, but earn too little to find something on the normal housing market,” as Rudi Schwab (Greens) put it. For this reason, it is essential that the list of criteria set certain income limits, demanded Alfred Widmann (SPD). “Housing that we finance from the state should only go to those who really need it.”
The municipal council must now decide in a special session how this will be reflected in the guideline. In any case, the demand for rental apartments on Riegerweg is high. According to the mayor, there are more than 100 registrations for the 44 residential units. SPD municipal councilor Weber commented that there may be delays in awarding them: “Ashamed, ashamed, ashamed is the order of the day.”