Berlin Housing construction requires a construction, investment and innovation offensive. So that this does not falter as before, a 187-point comprehensive package should now remedy the situation. This is the result of an alliance for affordable housing initiated by the federal government.
Since April, the federal government, states, municipal umbrella organizations, the housing and construction industry, trade unions, churches and civil society organizations have been discussing the necessary steps.
Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) speaks of the success of the alliance. “There were tough arguments on the matter,” said the SPD politician in an interview with the Handelsblatt, but considers it a success that everyone signed the alliance declaration in the end. Read an overview of the most important plans here:
In the future, residential buildings will have to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions over their entire life cycle. They should also use fewer resources, space and energy. By January 2023, the first task will be to implement the long-awaited new construction subsidy. The aim of the alliance is to increase the use of building and insulation materials as well as building and heating technology with a low CO2 footprint.
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The federal government also wants to examine by the end of the legislative period to what extent a subsidy can also stimulate lower living space consumption per capita and the densification of inner-city locations.
Circular construction is to be promoted, which means: In the future, more building products are to be recycled, more recycled building materials are to be used and more components are to be reused. However, this sometimes requires complex and time-consuming adjustments, for example in building product approval. In order to secure the supply of building materials, the greater use of local building materials is being examined.
>> Read here: “Rely more on your own raw materials”: the construction industry warns of supply bottlenecks
Procurement law should be consistently geared towards sustainability. The course for this would have to be set “now”, and the federal and state governments would have to start implementing it quickly.
2. Limitation of construction costs for more affordable housing
The level of construction costs has a decisive influence on whether affordable living space can be created, especially in cities and communities with tight housing markets.
Countless norms and standards have been a nuisance for the construction industry for a long time. These are to be reviewed, and cost-benefit considerations between the quality and affordability of housing are to be more closely integrated into the standardization and legislation process. There are plans for an independent body to estimate follow-up costs in standardization processes.
The building regulations remain a matter for the states, but they have approved the proposal to further harmonize the 16 state building regulations based on the example of the model building regulations of the federal government. This allows serial and modular construction to be promoted, which in turn significantly shortens planning processes and construction times.
3. Cheaper apartments through sustainable land policy and building land mobilization
Inner-city building land reserves and the potential for densification in cities and communities should be used more intensively. Previously unused, sometimes sealed areas are to be revitalized and converted into living space – but without losing sight of the necessary green spaces in cities. According to the agreement, municipalities should increasingly introduce digital registers of vacancies and brownfield sites.
The federal government has been negotiating with the federal states and associations on measures for affordable housing since April.
(Photo: dpa)
The allocation of building land by the public sector not according to the highest price, but according to the concept, is already being used in many municipalities, but is to be expanded. There is also a discussion about whether greater weighting will be given to projects geared towards the common good in the future.
According to the paper, the sale or rental of properties below the market value or market price must be approved by the municipalities under budgetary law.
The possibility of providing affordable living space through heritable building rights is also expressly mentioned. A property is not sold, but a right of use is granted for a certain period of time.
4. Residential construction: Accelerate planning, approval and implementation
The alliance demands that procedures be modernized, reduced in bureaucracy and digitized. First of all, a self-commitment was agreed to shorten the deadlines for the implementation of public planning and approval procedures. At the same time, according to the demand, the necessary quality of the application documents should be ensured.
In addition to demands to improve the personnel situation in the authorities, the alliance also wants to tackle the modernization of the procedures, for example by introducing innovation clauses in the building regulations and limiting the evidence to be submitted in the approval procedure to the necessary minimum.
The alliance also sees “good and high-quality” public participation as the key to accelerated planning. Nevertheless: Legal options are being examined to set deadlines in the planning process, after which changes in technical or legal framework conditions no longer have to be taken into account. This is intended to prevent delays caused by the revision of planning documents.
>> Read here: Administrative modernization – why the state is headed for an organizational catastrophe
It is also being examined whether there can be an early, mandatory hearing in court in legal proceedings against land use plans for housing projects. In this way, a lengthy exchange of pleadings could be avoided. This speeds up the process.
The lack of skilled workers is a concern when implementing projects. Training in the construction industry should be urgently promoted.
5. Public funding and investment impulses for more and cheaper living space
The federal government promises a funding framework that provides incentives for investments in supra-statutory energy efficiency standards. Social housing subsidies are intended to create additional impetus for investment in affordable housing.
The federal states agree to co-finance the social housing promotion with their own budget funds. The conditions in the funding programs should be adjusted regularly and quickly against the background of current developments such as the increase in construction costs as a result of interrupted supply chains.
In the future, there will also be a stronger focus on the goal of providing barrier-free apartments. The hurdles in the formation of home ownership are viewed critically. The federal government therefore wants to examine, among other things, the introduction of KfW loans to strengthen equity. This should make it easier for first-time buyers with middle incomes to finance property.
More: Construction Minister Klara Geywitz in conversation: “There were tough arguments on the matter”