District of Erding: 950 new apartments were built last year - deficit in social housing

Created: 06/16/2022, 08:30

Iron braider during new housing construction: IG BAU calls for additional efforts from politicians to ensure that more affordable housing is created in the region despite rising construction prices © Seifert

District – From your own home to an apartment building: 950 new apartments were built in the Erding district last year.

This is reported by the Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt industrial union (IG BAU), citing current figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

Investments of around 300 million euros then flowed into the new building.

“Additional apartments are an important contribution against rising rents.

The affordable segment is important.

And what matters most is that more is done in social housing construction,” says Harald Wulf.

The district chairman of IG BAU Oberbayern sees politics in particular as having a duty.

Residential construction in the region can only show its strength if the right course is set in Berlin and Munich.

“The federal government has promised 400,000 new apartments per year.

A quarter of these should be social housing.

The traffic light coalition is still a long way from this goal.

But state politics is also required here,” says Wulf.

According to statistics, only 293,400 new apartments were built nationwide last year – 4.2 percent fewer than in the previous year.

In addition, scarce building materials, rising energy prices, inflation and rising interest rates are currently making new construction difficult, according to the union.

In addition, there is a high demand for skilled workers and insufficient government funding.

IG BAU proposes a “special package for social housing” in order to “advance the lame construction of social housing”.

The VAT on social housing should be reduced from 19 to seven percent.

According to the union, the construction of a state-subsidized apartment would be ten percent cheaper.

“In addition, the federal and state governments urgently need to simplify building regulations.

It is high time that approval procedures became leaner and faster.

The IG BAU district chairman points to an enormous opportunity to gain additional living space: the conversion of existing buildings.

“In the district of Erding there is great potential in the conversion of old buildings.

In many residential buildings, office buildings, commercial buildings and multi-storey car parks, the roof levels can be increased.

In addition, there is the conversion of offices into apartments – due to more home offices.” Especially with a view to the increasing demand for housing for people who have fled from the Ukraine before the war, all possibilities must be used.

Addressing the domestic construction industry, the trade unionist made it clear: “Many companies are looking for skilled workers to be able to handle the orders.

But qualified bricklayers and carpenters only win if they pay decent wages and offer good working conditions.” Construction workers should not undersell themselves and insist on collective wages.

There is always enough to do, according to Wulf.

IG BAU