Too expensive for urgently needed skilled workers: does more municipal housing help on Tegernsee?

Created: 07/30/2022, 16:20

By: Christina Jachert-Maier

The city of Tegernsee bought the former AOK building at the train station in June.

The Greens group wants to continue building housing.

© Thomas Plettenberg

Ursula Janssen (Greens) sees the local authorities as having a duty to counteract the lack of cheap rental apartments.

Their idea: the founding of a valley-wide housing company.

Tegernsee

– There is a lack of educators and cooks, nurses and geriatric nurses, chambermaids and electricians.

"We have an enormous shortage of skilled workers in all areas," says Tegernsee City Councilor Ursula Janssen.

This is mainly because it is hardly possible for people with middle incomes to find affordable housing.

This is not news, but Janssen calls for a new strategy.

In an application to the city council, she suggests the establishment of a municipal company (KU) for city apartments.

The KU could be entrusted with the administration of the properties, renovation or conversion and settled with the Tegernsee spa and supply companies (TKV).

The long-term goal, it goes on to say, could be the founding of a valley-wide housing company in a suitable legal form.

The municipalities shouldn't leave the field to the speculators, Janssen believes: "If the municipalities want to have a say, they have to get together."

Many skilled workers can no longer afford to rent at Tegernsee

The city council will deal with the Greens’ motion at its meeting on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the city hall.

First of all, Janssen demands a detailed compilation of the properties that are already owned by the city.

How big is the current inventory?

Where does the city still have buildable land?

The need for structural refurbishment and the energetic condition should also be listed.

Janssen and parliamentary group colleague Marcus Staudacher have the same concern for TKV and its affiliated companies.

Once the inventory with all the details is available, the second step follows: The city council draws up a priority list of possible construction measures based on financial feasibility.

In this context, according to Janssen, the founding of the KU should be considered.

Mayor Johannes Hagn (CSU) put the topic on the agenda at short notice.

"Although we would have liked to have had more time to prepare," he says.

In terms of content, Hagn only wants to comment on the Greens' proposal at the meeting.

The city is undoubtedly active in this sector: it only bought the former AOK building at the train station in June.

She is currently having apartments installed in the station building.

It has also been decided that considerations for a development concept for the design and use of the station area will begin.

City councilor demands: “Have to think through the topic across the valley”

Janssen's proposal goes far beyond that.

“We have to think the issue through across the valley,” says the city councilwoman.

The first thing she has in mind is the former hospital in Kreuth.

According to Janssen, the acquisition and development of the site cannot be implemented by the Kreuth municipality alone.

Just as Tegernsee was not able to buy the former hospital site years ago, which is why a developer is now building the maximum there.

Together, says Janssen, the municipalities might have been able to handle the purchase at the time.

In the case of Kreuth, however, the mayor there, Josef Bierschneider, sees things differently.

The current asking price is simply inappropriate, says Bierschneider.

It would certainly not make sense if all the valley communities joined together to scrape together the excessive sum.

Bierschneider does not disclose how high the amount is, with reference to the ongoing negotiations.

Most recently, there was talk of a market value of 8.5 million euros.

The municipality of Kreuth had offered 2.8 million euros in the first attempt and later increased it somewhat.

It is an outdoor area on which, according to the current status, only a clinic can be operated, explains Bierschneider.

Only the municipality can change something about the possible uses with a corresponding land use plan.

By the way, Kreuth wants to use the area primarily for business and only partly for residential construction, Bierschneider notes: "More apartments would be too much for our infrastructure."

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For Janssen, the Kreuther Klinik is "just one example" of which areas are suitable for a joint project: "Now I would like to give you a thought-provoking impulse."