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(20.7.2020) Missing and too expensive apartments, speculation with building land, rent controls – the subject of living in the city is heating up people in many places. Urban sociologist Prof. Dieter Rink from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and political scientist Prof. Björn Egner from TU Darmstadt have published the textbook “Local Housing Policy. Examples from German cities ”. It shows that there is probably no uniform solution to the problems of the housing situation, every city acts differently.
The housing issue – especially in the city – has been booming for several years. There is even talk of a renaissance of the city, because the metropolises, large cities and university cities have in some cases recorded high growth rates since the 2010s. Young people in particular are drawn to urban areas. In addition, after the financial crisis in 2008 and immigration by refugees from 2015, Germany became a popular destination for many. Most of the newcomers moved to metropolitan areas and cities.
Analysis of 14 cities
In their book, Prof. Rink and Prof. Egner analyzed the consequences of these trends using the housing market development and policy in 14 cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hanover, Dresden, Dortmund, Kassel and the two university cities of Göttingen and Jena.
“Housing policy has been a top issue for years, both at federal and state level and in cities. Because the federal government has withdrawn from housing policy, the promotion of social housing has become a matter for the federal states, and implementation is the responsibility of the municipalities, ”says Prof. Rink. But the run on the cities and the rapidly increasing demand for apartments are overwhelming the cities, and housing shortages are usually the result. The authors describe numerous reasons for this in the book:
- New residential construction was neglected for a long time.
- There was hardly any social housing.
- Communal apartments as well as many areas owned by the federal government, local authorities or federally owned companies have been privatized.
“All of this ensured that the situation on the urban housing markets became more and more tense from the 2010s,” says the UFZ researcher.
In their book, the authors describe how the 14 cities deal with the various challenges, which strategies they develop, or which housing policy instruments they use. Anyone who thinks that there is a model solution for local housing policy that cities can use to resolve their housing concerns will be disappointed. “Every city works with a mix of different instruments such as urban planning contracts, milieu protection statutes, rent controls, social land use or a qualified rent index,” says Prof. Rink. For example, the rent brake is only being used in six of the ten large cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Other cities like Munich, Hanover or Dortmund, however, do without it.
Example Leipzig
The city of Leipzig also does not use the rent brake as a housing policy instrument. For a long time, the trade fair city didn’t have a housing problem either. “At the beginning of the 2000s, Leipzig had more than 20 percent vacancy and the housing issue was considered to have been resolved,” says Dieter Rink. In 2011 the vacancy rate was still 12%, now it is less than 2% market active vacancy. The Leipzig boom, which began in the 2010s, then revealed that there was a particular lack of inexpensive apartments. In order to better control the housing market, the city council decided on a housing policy concept in 2015. However, the financial options are limited: Although the city is currently spending around EUR 1 million and the Free State of Saxony around EUR 20 million a year in housing construction, only 300 to 400 apartments can be funded annually, but 1,300 to 1,400 would be necessary.
Example Munich
The fact that it can be difficult to master the housing shortage even with a significantly higher financial budget is described in the book using the example of Munich. The city with 1.5 million inhabitants has a budget of around EUR 220 million per year from its own budget as well as federal and state funds and thus has the financially largest municipal housing program in Germany. Nevertheless, Munich remains Germany’s most expensive housing market. “Despite the provision of considerable financial resources, it is only possible to alleviate the symptoms, but not to bring about a trend reversal in the price development,” says the chapter on Munich. What the city lacks above all is communal building land. Living in Munich is becoming unaffordable for more and more social groups.
Example Dresden
Dresden’s housing policy is also highlighted in the book. The Saxon state capital came into public focus in 2006 because it was the only major city in Germany to sell its entire portfolio of around 48,000 communal apartments for around EUR 1.7 billion to an American investment fund. The sale made the city debt-free in one fell swoop. Since the 2010s, however, rising rents and the scarce cheap housing stock have led to a correction in housing policy. In 2011 the city council decided to develop a new urban living concept, which was adopted in 2019 after long political discussions. In addition, a new municipal housing association was founded, which is to build up a portfolio of 800 apartments by 2022. The example of Dresden shows how long it can take a city to readjust its housing policy.
“The solution to the current housing issue in Germany’s cities is proving difficult and is only progressing slowly. Local housing policy will therefore remain on the agenda, even in times of Corona, ”says Prof Rink.
The bibliographical information about the book:
- Local housing policy. Examples from German cities
- Editors: Dieter Rink, Björn Egner:
- 2020, 332 pages, paperback
- ISBN 978-3-8487-6756-4
- available from, among others
worldview
and
Amazon
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