Northwestern regions urge the national administration for faster action.

Affordable housing provided by the government - Northwestern regions urge the national administration for faster action.

In response to a growing demand for affordable living spaces, the ministers of building and senators from the five northern German states are pressing the federal government to play a more active role in providing social housing. "We urge a dependable allocation of funds for social housing and would like the federal government and the states to maintain and expand the current funding system," states the declaration of the authorities from Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Bremen. This move is essential to boost the supply of social housing.

To expedite the construction process, the northern states are advocating for looser restrictions. They have paved the way by modifying their building regulations. "We need to consider what standards we can and are willing to concede," expressed Lower Saxony's building minister Olaf Lies (SPD). This could potentially minimize the exorbitant construction costs that hamper new development.

Loosening restrictions could reduce expenses

"We should realize that apartments with lower standards, such as soundproofing, will always be better than no apartments at all," added Susanne Schmitt, representative of the Association of the Housing Industry in Lower Saxony, who attended the summit alongside Lies. The revised building laws will allow for "faster, more efficient, and thus cheaper and more affordable construction," explained Bremen's building senator Özlem Ünsal (SPD). A possible 25% reduction in costs is a realistic outcome with these simplified building standards, according to Schleswig-Holstein's building minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU).

Hamburg's building senator Karen Pein aspires to reduce costs by a third. "If we can successfully decrease construction expenses collectively, we can continue to meet our new construction and climate protection objectives," commented the SPD politician. Streamlining the building permit process offers another avenue for cost savings, as demonstrated by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's adoption of an online application system, which saves time, materials, and money, noted the state's building minister Christian Pegel (SPD).

Initially, the red-green government aimed to create 100,000 new social housing units annually and has failed to meet the target. Overall, only about 23,000 social housing units were erected the previous year. Concurrently, many previously social housing units were disqualified from rent caps. Consequently, the total number of available social housing units in Germany has decreased by 15,000 to less than 1.1 million.

With respect to possible amendments to rental law, which the federal government agreed to as part of the coalition agreement, the northern ministers called for a regulatory environment that encourages housing development. "The welfare of renters and tenants is crucial to us. Yet, incentives for investing in housing construction should remain unhindered," stresses their final declaration. "It's the responsibility of the federal government to implement the required alterations to rental law as swiftly as possible."

The traffic light coalition had initially planned changes to rental law in the coalition agreement, in addition to the previously agreed rent cap. However, the FDP has opposed any additional modifications to rental law. "Any further rent-related discussions are harmful to investments in the current construction and interest rate environment," elaborated Carina Konrad, deputy faction leader in the Bundestag.

Read also:

1. The ministers of building and senators from Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Bremen urge the federal government to allocate funds for social housing more reliably.
2. To speed up the construction process, the northern states advocate for looser building restrictions and have already modified their regulations.
3. Olaf Lies, the building minister of Lower Saxony, suggests considering what standards can be compromised to reduce construction costs.
4. Bremen's building senator Özlem Ünsal believes that simplified building standards could lead to a 25% reduction in construction costs.
5. Hamburg's building senator Karen Pein aims to decrease construction costs by up to a third to meet new construction and climate protection objectives.
6. Streamlining the building permit process, as demonstrated by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's online application system, can save time, materials, and money.
7. The northern ministers call for a regulatory environment that encourages housing development while ensuring the welfare of renters and tenants, urging the federal government to swiftly implement necessary changes to rental law.

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