Lower Saxony and Bremen took a clear stance at the recent conference of building ministers: they reject the housing benefit cuts planned by the federal government. This position is welcomed by the Association of Housing and Real Estate Industry Lower Saxony Bremen (vdw), which highlights the necessity of housing benefit as an instrument for the social housing market.
Dr. Susanne Schmitt, managing director of the vdw, commented on the situation and pointed to policy failures in recent years. She emphasised that social housing construction has not been consistently strengthened, which is evident in various problem areas.
Challenges in social housing construction
Housing construction costs remain high, while affordable plots of land for socially oriented investors are still difficult to find. Additionally, complex planning and approval procedures, as well as requirements for climate protection in existing buildings – which are based on parameters deemed flawed – exacerbate the situation. These factors lead to a persistent shortage of affordable housing.
Given these challenges, the vdw considers the idea of housing benefit cuts to be a wrong signal. A reduction in housing benefit would undermine a crucial pillar of social housing provision, especially at a time when comprehensive action is needed. The association warns that cuts at the current time would affect approximately 380,000 households nationwide with small and medium incomes.
Of these households, more than 140,000 would fall into basic social security. This is considered socially disastrous and detrimental to social cohesion. Instead of cuts, the vdw calls for a reliable, adequate, and unbureaucratic design of housing benefit. In parallel, all efforts must be made to promote the creation of new, affordable homes and to address the structural problems in housing construction.
