The construction industry is making its direction clear ahead of the housing summit at the Prime Ministry: Real support, a “housing construction boom”, should come from the meeting. Otherwise there is a risk of collapse.
The construction sector and the industry association called for major aid for the housing summit to be held at the Federal Chancellery on Monday. “What we need now is real support so that housing construction does not collapse,” IG Bau union leader Robert Feiger told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “People are expecting a big acceleration in housing construction,” said Felix Pakleppa, managing director of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB).
The Federal Chancellery invited people to Affordable Housing Alliance Day on Monday. Federal Minister of Construction Klara Geywitz (SPD) launched the format in spring 2022. Among other things, it should also work to achieve the stated target of 400,000 new apartments per year. However, due to increasing construction costs and interest rates, the construction sector is in crisis and the set targets are far away.
50 billion euros requested for social housing
“Anything that isn’t funded now will be twice as expensive going forward,” union leader Feiger said. Therefore, the state now needs to provide funds. For example, a special fund of 50 billion euros is needed “to build enough social housing by 2025.” According to Feiger, another 22 billion euros are needed this legislative session “to create affordable apartments for middle-income people.”
The German Federal Association for Prefabricated Buildings demanded that “the average family” should be able to finance homeownership again. “Therefore, the income limit for new construction financing needs to be increased immediately for families from 60,000 euros to at least 90,000 euros,” said association boss Achim Hannott.
Two associations are boycotting meetings at the Prime Ministry
ZDB boss Pakleppa has high hopes for the high-level meeting at the Chancellery. “Never before has an entire sector of the economy looked forward to a meeting in political Berlin with such great anticipation,” he explained. “The meeting will be a reality check for the government’s housing policy.”
However, other associations have now given up on this hope. The leading housing association (GdW) and homeowners’ association Haus & Grund announced on Friday that they would boycott Monday’s meeting. A concrete, positive result cannot be expected. Instead, they accused the federal government of planning a “primarily public” event.
Source: ZDF
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