The SPD has demanded more commitment from the state to the construction of affordable housing. With two motions, the opposition group wants to make housing policy a focus of the state parliament deliberations in the coming week. “For the SPD, providing citizens with affordable housing is an integral part of services of general interest,” said SPD construction politician Thomas Hölck of the German Press Agency. The country needs a more offensive housing policy.
Against the background of rising interest rates, rising construction, raw material and energy prices and the shortage of skilled workers, Hölck presented a ten-point plan for the state parliament session. In it he calls for a state alliance for affordable housing that, as the central body, should look for solutions to the increasing need for housing in dialogue with municipalities, the housing industry and associations.
The SPD is not only demanding more money from the state government for the municipalities to prepare for new, inclusive and affordable housing concepts, but also a project study for a state housing company. The rental price brake and the cap on rent increases would have to be put back into force for all municipalities with a tight housing market. In addition, the state should make full use of its legislative powers so that cities and municipalities can effectively prevent the misappropriation and neglect of living space wherever possible and eliminate unacceptable defects in rented apartments at the expense of the owners.
“The free market alone is visibly failing to resolve the upheavals,” Hölck writes in his application. The state and municipalities would have to expand and use their leeway to create living space themselves and to make building land available. “The state and local authorities can only exert sufficient influence on the housing market and have a regulatory effect if they actively control it and, where necessary, act as players in the housing market themselves.” Housing is a basic social right.
With a second application, the Social Democrats are calling on the state government to use federal funds from the “Young Living” program in full for new construction, expansion and conversion, modernization or the purchase of dormitory places for students and trainees. 17 million euros are available for the north. The tense situation on the housing market is particularly affecting young people who are not yet able to earn a full income due to their studies or training.
