Saarland facilitates investment in residential construction
More affordable housing is to be created for low-income households in Saarland. Construction Minister Reinhold Jost (SPD) presented new funding guidelines on Tuesday, which have now come into force for social housing funding. "The aim is to make housing in Saarland simple and attractive," Jost told journalists.
To this end, the state has set itself the goal of increasing the number of social housing units from the current 678 to 5,000 over the next four years. According to Jost, 79 million euros will be distributed across various funding programs, both in the area of rental housing construction and in the promotion of home ownership. "This shows that there is no lack of money available," said the minister. "But the attractiveness was not there." Particularly in view of the construction crisis, the existing programs should now become more interesting for investors again. In redesigning the funding guidelines, the Saarland is taking inspiration from regulations in the greater Trier area.
Among other things, the subsidy rates and repayment subsidies have been increased, target areas have been expanded and regulations on apartment sizes have been made more flexible. In addition, instead of the previously staggered interest rates of between 0.2 and 1.7 percent, all loan programs now have a continuous interest rate of 1 percent for a maximum term of 30 years.
The new funding and financing conditions are intended to appeal to young families, municipal housing associations, private or state housing construction and settlement companies, municipalities, foundations, private investors and, above all, cooperatives.
According to Jost, the revision of the guidelines is "a first interim step" towards a better funding framework and a Saarland Housing Promotion Act, which is due to come into force next year. He has high hopes that this will now give the issue a "real drive".
The Saarland government is working to attract investment in residential construction, especially in the area of social housing, to address the housing needs of low-income families. With the new funding guidelines, the government has increased subsidy rates, expanded target areas, and made regulations on apartment sizes more flexible, making the loan programs more appealing to various investors such as cooperatives, private investors, and construction companies.
Source: www.dpa.com
