Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey wants to stick to the Senate’s previous housing policy, which is to make social housing more attractive through lower taxes. Not everyone finds that convincing. The SPD top candidate even expressly defended the controversial alliance for housing construction and affordable housing, which was criticized from many sides during the election campaign. Everyone says that more needs to be built. “But I miss the concept of how it can actually work for some people,” said Giffey on the RBB television program “Your plan for Berlin?” at Tuesday evening. “I have presented a concrete concept of how it can be done, and we are implementing it, by the way.”
A core component for Giffey is the alliance for housing construction, including with associations and companies in the housing industry. “I think we have to recognize that if you want to build 20,000 homes in the city, no one can do it alone,” Giffey said. “Neither the municipal housing associations, nor the cooperatives, nor the private ones. That only works together. That’s why you need an alliance.” The SPD politician said that the goal of 20,000 new apartments per year must be maintained because the demand is corresponding. Rather, it will rise because the population will continue to grow to four million in the next ten years.
The SPD politician also called for the attractiveness of social housing to be increased. “My proposal is to reduce the VAT on the construction of affordable housing to specifically boost it,” she suggested on Twitter. “In this way we can cushion the effects of inflation and the massive price increases in the construction industry. This is a fair offer for everyone who wants to build apartments.” The state foregoes part of its income and people receive the affordable housing they urgently need in return. “The tax break is limited to new social housing, to create an incentive for that.”
Not only by the opposition parties, but also by the coalition partners, Giffey was repeatedly accused of not having achieved the goal of 20,000 new apartments last year and not doing enough to build new social housing.
Left top candidate Klaus Lederer criticized Giffey’s proposal as unthought-out. “Berlin doesn’t have the legislative power to lower VAT. We can’t wait for the federal government, which is otherwise not helping with housing policy,” he said on Wednesday. Tax gifts for private corporations are not the way to go. “The principle of hope is not a serious housing policy, we can see that the market does not regulate it.” A consistent change of course towards more municipal housing is necessary.
During the election campaign, the Left Party in Berlin called for €1 billion a year to be spent on the construction of 75,000 social housing units. According to the party’s ideas, the price-controlled apartments are to be built by the municipal companies and are to be built within ten years. The funding system should change for this.
FDP faction leader Sebastian Czaja said the housing situation in Berlin was extremely problematic. “Franziska Giffey can still want so much: as long as she voluntarily puts herself in the hands of the Left and Greens who prevent housing construction, she will never achieve the new construction goals.”
The spokesman for building and housing for the Berlin CDU parliamentary group, Dirk Stettner, called for a paradigm shift in building. “With their blockade policy, the SPD, the Greens and the Left are responsible for the housing crisis, but above all for the reduction in available social housing.”
It doesn’t help much that Giffey points helplessly to the federal government and defends its new building alliance. “Building permits have hit a new low.” Anyone who wants to boost housing construction should not threaten investors and housing cooperatives with expropriation.
Tweet on social housing
