Rental misery | Housing construction: insight much too late

In the future, the federal government also wants to act as a developer. Photo: dpa/Soeren Stache The housing shortage in German cities is enormous. According to the government's wishes, a federally owned housing association should provide relief. According to Construction Minister Verena Hubertz, it is now scheduled to start in 2027.

Preparations have been going on for some time in the social democratic-led construction and finance ministries. It wasn't lost on even the politicians in the Berlin government bubble that the lack of affordable housing is a huge issue nationwide. Right into the middle class and the economy. And the housing shortage has long been seen as a brake on hiring workers. At the same time, from Rostock to Saarbrücken, from Hamburg to Munich, it is clear that it is not the level of rent alone that determines affordability, but rather the income that remains after paying the rent. Recession and stagnation in recent years have therefore further fueled the housing shortage. 

A federally owned housing association could certainly alleviate the problems somewhat. However, she comes too late, much too late. Social housing construction has been a success story in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1950. When it was then significantly dismantled in the early 1990s, the near-exit of politics, together with the deregulation of the economy, urbanization towards large cities and migration, led to today's housing shortage in metropolitan areas. Nothing can be changed about this, at least in the short term.  

Against this background, the establishment of a federally owned housing association shows, above all, the helplessness of the Merz government. Politics usually outsources hot topics to a commission of experts, in this case a special purpose vehicle in which private or municipal players should also participate. Incidentally, economists' proposal to grant even more cheap loans via the state development bank KfW does not promise any real relief. A look at the world's metropolises shows that there is a housing shortage where capital and its profits dominate the market. And this federal government doesn't want to change anything about that.

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