Rising ancillary costs and probably fewer funds for affordable housing: The prospects for Thuringian tenants could be better.
At their association day, the housing industry looked for solutions.
Gera - The situation for many Thuringian tenants is likely to remain tense.
In view of the high energy prices, many of them will have to pay additional costs in the coming year, as became clear at the Association Day of the Thuringian Housing and Real Estate Industry (vtw) on Wednesday in Gera.
And according to the current budget, less money is planned for social housing in 2022 than in the current year, as Construction Minister Susanna Karavansky (Left) said.
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The minister said that almost 50 million euros were budgeted for new social housing projects this year. In the draft for 2022 that is less. The vtw had previously even asked for the funding to be tripled to 150 million euros. "Roughly calculated, you will get around 600 newly built social housing for this," said association board member Frank Emrich. If the funding previously planned for 2022 remains, that would be the wrong message for the coming year and lead to a decline in interest in social housing among companies.
The building minister and former state secretary Karavansky, who presented herself for the first time in her new role in the discussion at the association day, also justified the financing with the corona pandemic and less dynamic economic growth.
The state government must also balance different interests.
Now it is a matter of discussing the demands of the construction industry in the parliamentary procedure on the budget.
She also referred to the aspect of higher construction prices.
In view of the rising prices of raw materials, you can no longer get the performance you received two or three years ago for the subsidies that are now planned.
"Against this background, you have to ask yourself to what extent you want to continue playing this game, or whether you have to pause there."
Contrary to the national trend, the number of social housing in Thuringia recently increased slightly.
In 2020 there were 15,085 social rental apartments in the Free State, almost 100 more than in the previous year.
Since 2015, however, almost a fifth of social housing in the Free State has been lost.
Representatives of the housing industry recently complained that funding guidelines for the current year came too late and funding applications had not yet been approved.
The increase in social housing in the past year is mainly due to attractive subsidies in 2016 or 2017.
In the short term, the high energy prices are initially reflected in the tenants' wallets.
District heating suppliers are already experiencing price doubling in some cases, said vtw board member Emrich.
He pointed out that around 80 percent of the apartments in the Free State are heated with district heating.
In about a year the utility bills would be due, which should then also include claims for back payments, he said.
“And often with people who cannot afford it.” Landlords and owners are asked to keep ancillary costs as low as possible through energetically refurbished apartments.
"Ultimately, however, it is up to the tenant to decide how he behaves." You have to stick to the basic understanding that anyone who turns on the heating has to pay for it.
For people who cannot do this on their own, there is also appropriate help.
The 221 housing companies organized in vtw manage around 264,000 apartments in Thuringia.
The majority of them are municipal housing associations and housing associations.
dpa
