A German trade union and a tenants’ association have urged the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the trade union to prioritize the topic of housing in the coalition negotiations and to build 100,000 new social housing units per year.
According to a open letter to the negotiation leaders, published in the newspapers of the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Thursday edition), the topic of housing must be put at the top of the political agenda. The authors demand decisive measures for a social and fair housing policy as part of the coalition negotiations between the CDU, CSU and SPD.
Specifically, they are calling for an annual construction of 100,000 social housing units, a permanent investment program for affordable housing and the inclusion of social housing in the federal budget. The authors also demand an extension and strengthening of the rent brake, a nationwide ban on the conversion of rental to ownership apartments, stricter regulation of index-based rent agreements and the strengthening of the municipal pre-emption right.
“Wohnen must not be a luxury, it is a fundamental right for all” said Stefan Körzell, a member of the DGB executive board, in an interview with the newspapers. The federal government must invest more money and clarify legal questions around the right to rent.
“The urgently needed and long delayed rent law reforms do not cost the state a single cent” said the president of the German Tenants’ Association, Lukas Siebenkotten. The politicians must “only be bold enough to tackle them” and thus protect tenants from “ever-rising rents.