The Federal Construction Minister of Verena Hubertz (SPD) has currently announced the new Curbo Building. What do you like?
Hubertz wants to speed up housing. For this purpose, a new paragraph must be created in the Construction Code, which allows you to limit the deviation from the planning rules. For example, municipalities may decide to do without a development plan. Planning of construction projects can take only two months – instead of five years, as before. Lather procedures should also reduce the costs for developers. “Bauturbo” can also be used for sealing in the city region by expanding buildings or buildings in the second row. It is also possible to increase existing houses. What is important for Hubertz: all this also applies to the construction of social infrastructure, such as day care, school and theater.
Is that good now?
The Associations of Environmental Protection and the Organization of Civil Society are afraid of deregulation in the construction of law. They say that with a lack of development plans, democratic participation can be made. The speculation of soil and the destruction of nature threaten, says the head of the German environmental assistance of Barbara Metz. “New houses in the previously undeveloped area should become possible, environmental standards and the right to participate are introduced with scrap.”
Former President of the Association of tenants Lucas Zibenkotten expects negative consequences for tenants in the so -called areas of environmental protection, that is, areas that are greatly affected by movement. If new rules are suddenly used there, new floors can be built with an elevator, and expenses can be transferred to tenants, according to Zibenkotten. In addition, he fulfills the requirements in the draft law in order to create an affordable living space.
What else does the federal government plan in the field of construction and life?
The legislative amendment also currently includes a five -year expansion of converting protection. In areas with a stressed housing market, rental apartments should not simply be transformed into condominiums. This should protect tenants from repression. Another project planned in the coalition agreement is SO -Salled Building Type E. This should be made planning and construction faster and cheaper. The coalition of the traffic light has already submitted the law at the end of 2024. E means simple or experimentally.
This law is intended to promote innovative and non -traditional methods of construction and neutralize excessive building standards in the field of sound and thermal insulation. It is also planned to strengthen the municipal right to the first refusal, which was largely canceled by the federal administrative court in November 2021. Until then, the right of the first refusal was proved to act against real estate speculation. If private investors wanted to buy apartment buildings, municipalities were able to purchase at home themselves or establish the conditions for the purchase.
The construction industry is really so bad?
We can say that the situation is difficult. As a result of the pandemic and the Russian aggressive war against Ukraine, there were narrow places of delivery, materials, energy and personal costs increased significantly. Orders about construction crashed, the interest of construction is high. The Minister of Construction Veren Hubertz now sees that “the first rays of sunlight go beyond the clouds.” According to the Federal Statistical Administration, the number of construction permits increased in April – almost 74,000 apartments were approved in the first four months, which is 3.7 percent more than in the previous year.
Where is the Ministry of Construction focus on financial priorities?
The ministry left the budget negotiations as a winner: the budget increases from 6.7 billion euros in 2024 to 7.4 billion euros 2025 and 7.6 billion euros 2026. One of the accents is social housing. In 2025, 3.5 billion euros are planned. This includes means for the Young Life program, with the help of which the hostel can be built for students and interns.
How many apartments do you need in Germany?
It depends on who you ask. The Federal Institute for Construction, City and Spatial Research (BBSR) suggests that 320,000 apartments will be necessary annually by 2030. The alliance of social life, on the other hand, involves 550,000 apartments and relies on numbers from the Pestel Institute. By the way, the previous government wanted to build 400,000 apartments a year, 100,000 of them as social housing – but this did not work.
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How many apartments Were created in recent years?
In 2023, only about 294,000 apartments were completed, in 2024 it was about 251,900. Although social housing is also being built, their number is falling because tens of thousands of apartments leave their social ties annually. Currently, there are 1.05 million social housing – this is about 26,000 less than in the previous year. According to the alliance of social life, according to estimates, by 2030 two million social housing will be required.
What groups of the population are especially complicated when looking for an apartment?
In principle, everyone who has no income, assets and resources. This affects the homeless, refugees, lonely parents and families with many children, as well as young interns, students or pensioners.
Refugees tightened the lack of housing, like right extremists love to claim?
The more people compete for housing in the city, the more difficult for everyone – regardless of origin. The problem can be solved if the will were there. The fact that the amount of social housing is falling is a political failure. Recognized refugees often have to live in collective housing for a long time, because they do not find an apartment. In addition, people with the history of migration often report racist discrimination regarding the search for an apartment.
Are there any alternatives to a new building?
Anyway. In Germany, about two million apartments are empty, for example, for speculative reasons from a shortage of reconstruction or from a reduction in the city. City researchers: Inside, the problem not only sees the absence of apartments, but also in the improper use of the existing living space. The average living space per capita in Germany has continuously increased since 1990. Although in 1990 a person lived an average of 34.8 square meters, in 2023 there were 47.5 square meters. In particular, in their old apartments, they often live in more square meters than they need.
However, since rental and real estate prices rose so much, a smaller apartment would be more expensive for them than in an old, too large apartment. At the same time, about 11.5 percent of the population lived in crowded apartments in 2024, that is, there is too little space – parents -single ones and people with a migration background are especially affected. There are different offers to better distribute the living space: on the one hand, through the exchange of apartments, and on the other hand, also thanks to the more collective use of areas, for example, through apartments or housing associations.
What is the federal government against a growing rent?
In May, Bundestag expanded the rental price until the end of 2029. However, protectionists -raditors criticize that it was not improved. Because this does not apply to buildings since 2014 or carefully modernized apartments. In the area of furnished life, brakes are often avoided. The Minister of Justice Stefani Hubig, who is responsible for the lease, explains that he wants to regulate a furnished life more strictly. According to the coalition agreement, the expert commission with organizations of the tenant and the lessor must also submit proposals by the end of 2026, where the lease law can be improved. For example, we are talking about the best punishment for renting usurors and fines, if the lease brake is not respected. Suitable solutions should also be found so that the landlords energetically repair their apartments if the tenants are not overloaded.
How do other countries react to a lack of housing?
Vienna, who still has a large inventory of inexpensive social housing and cooperative apartments, is considered a model of supply for social housing. In Barcelona, there is strictly against the vacancy. Owners under the law are required to rent an apartment if it has been empty for more than two years. If you do not find tenants then within one month: inside, the city is expropriated by the city for half the market price. In Spain, there are also more and more initiatives to win the city population for a lifetime in the country: free rent, cash prizes and subsidies of children, schools or electricity.
