The disappearance of social housing: luxury renovation, regulatory mania and the withdrawal of affordable housing

The German real estate landscape is facing a structural collapse in social housing. As the population continues to grow and social inequality is getting worse, more and more social housing is being removed from the portfolio. The narrative of social housing as a bulwark against exploding rents and housing shortages proves to be a pure illusion in the practical implementation,Because the political and economic framework conditions prevent a sustainable stock of affordable housing.

Luxury renovation and the end of favorable tenancies

A central gateway for the disappearance of social housing is the practice of luxury renovation. Apartments that have been affordable for decades and served as a support for low-income earners are modernized at great expense – often far beyond what is necessary for energy or construction. After the renovations, rents are skyrocketing that the original clientele no longer hascan wear. The social housing status is no longer available after the periods of commitment have expired, and the luxury-renovated units are marketed on the free market at maximum price. The actual idea of securing a social mix and minimum standards in inner cities is actually erased and replaced by a creeping gentrification model of exclusive metropolises.

Building regulations and regulatory hurdles as innovation killers

The legal framework has developed into a dead end: numerous, sometimes contradictory building regulations and energetic requirements not only make the new building more expensive, but also make the construction of social housing practically impossible. The regulations promoted with the aims of sustainability, accessibility, energy saving or environmental protection are for municipal andCooperative property developers an almost impenetrable barrier. Construction projects for social housing can only be realized on paper – and even then only with state subsidies, which remain notoriously underfunded as the financial requirements increase. This makes social housing a rare luxury item: while demand is growing, the offer is shrinking at a frightening pace.

The loss of affordable housing and the return of the allocation

With the decline in social housing, affordable housing for broad sections of the population is disappearing. For many citizens, the only option left is to invest an unaffordable high proportion of their income in the apartment. Rent payments have to devour 40, 50 or even more percent of household income more and more frequently. At the same time, the signs of astate-controlled distribution economy. The few remaining social housing are exceptionally publicly allocated, often only according to strictly defined emergency and criteria catalogs. This is fatally reminiscent of the housing practice of the GDR, where allocation and shortage of economy were everyday life and the term “living” is a synonym for uncertainty, delay in time and dependency onbenevolence of bureaucratic decision-makers.

Housing shortage, social powder barrels and the new poverty

The current living situation is increasingly resembling a social powder keg. Big cities experience uninhibited rental dynamics, and even in smaller cities, the competition for scarce apartments is intensifying. Those who do not have above-average income or social networks often find themselves in existential emergencies. Poverty in old age, child and family poverty are caused by explodingRents are massively intensified, many people are pushed out in outskirts or run-down quarters. In more and more regions, living no longer remains a fundamental right, but becomes a luxury. The social rules are turned upside down: in one of the richest countries in the world, the number of those for whom a decent apartment for permanent care andunfulfillable longing has become.

State refusal to do so and the end of social cohesion

The assertion that affordable housing is still available and can only be maintained by statistical sleight of hand. While state and federal governments formulate ambitious goals and funding sums, the stock of subsidized social housing is falling rapidly. Despite billions in programs, the proportion of apartments with social bonds is dwindling, new programs are runningElimination of existing rent commitments and the ongoing luxury renovation does not begin to begin. The federal funds for the new building arrive far too slowly and too bureaucratically, while the system systematically promotes the transformation from inexpensive to high-priced tenancies. Social housing is thus a symbol of political bankruptcy: well-intentioned, badly done, in theImplementation inefficient and largely unattainable for the target group.

Living as a luxury – a symptom of state resignation

The disappearance of social housing is an expression of a state withdrawal from its social responsibility. Behind every luxury renovation and every rental agreement that has been lost is the gradual reduction of elementary quality of life and social justice. While the political actors are beautifying their success statistics, millions of people experience that living inGermany has developed into luxury. The parallels to the GDR allocation policy are frightening, as is the character of control and dependency in the distribution of the last few social housing. The suppression, overload and insecurity of entire sections of the population is a fatal warning signal for future social peace – and at the same time a sign of poverty for a country thathas made the social constitutional state on the flags.