Housing in Germany is scarce and expensive. A drastic approach by Regensburg researchers to solve the housing shortage could make waves.
Regensburg – The housing shortage in Germany is affecting many citizens. Especially in major German cities, the housing shortage, especially when it comes to affordable housing, is striking. Families are particularly affected, while pensioners often live too generously and exacerbate the housing shortage in Germany. Due to this dramatic development in the housing shortage, experts even warn of social tensions. It is precisely this development that researchers at the Real Estate Institute of the University of Regensburg want to counteract.
To this end, they have put forward a drastic approach to solving the housing shortage, which should significantly increase the rent for holders of old, cheaper contracts. The researchers hope that tenants who have been living in large apartments for a long time but benefit from the low rents will be urged or at least persuaded to move to smaller apartments.
Housing shortage in Germany: Researchers with drastic proposal – completely abolish tenant protection
Housing in Germany is scarce and expensive. (Symbolic image) © Imago/Michael Gstettenbauer
The radical proposal for the solution of housing in Germany is based on the considerations of a team led by economics professor Steffen Sebastian. Behind the idea is that tenant protection for long-term existing tenants or the cap on rent increases should be significantly weakened or even completely abolished, as the Handelsblatt and Die Welt report unanimously. This includes in particular senior citizens and pensioners.
According to the research team's assessment, older people who live in their apartments in a good location and with a high square footage would be more easily persuaded to part with their apartments. According to this, there is enough living space, which is only incorrectly distributed. A circumstance that leads to the housing shortage in Germany, especially for families.
Housing shortage in Germany: Radical initiative presented – "It can't be"
According to Die Welt, Sebastian explains his justification for the drastic proposal for an end to the housing shortage in Germany as follows: "It cannot be that the state extremely protects people who have been paying a low rent for decades anyway, regardless of whether they are in need or not. And others can't find affordable housing at all."
In the Handelsblatt, the scientist elaborates on his approach. In his view, potential tenants with low incomes should receive more support instead of securing low rents for tenants. At the same time, it also provides a financing approach that is intended to increase the attractiveness of implementation for landlords. The drastic push is to be financed, for example, through a solidarity payment that landlords pay.
Housing shortage: support for tenants with low incomes – landlords with higher rental income
In return, they would then receive a guarantee that they would subsequently receive higher rents. This could then result in the fact that significantly more people will receive housing benefit than has been the case so far, and that tenants with low incomes in particular will receive significant support in the housing shortage. The drastic approach is intended as a possible solution to the housing shortage, as politicians have so far failed to significantly alleviate the housing shortage, especially in Germany's major cities, through more new buildings, or these ventures have not yet shown any significant success.
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Recently, a significantly weakened proposal by the Left Party, whose housing policy spokeswoman brought a housing exchange between pensioners and families into play in tenancy law, had already caused an uproar and heated discussions in Germany's political landscape.
Housing shortage in Germany: New approach meets with rejection in politics and the tenants' association
The new approach of the Regensburg research team is also met with little approval and even less approval among politicians and parties, who want to solve the problem of housing shortages and skyrocketing rents in different ways. And even the tenants' association, which welcomed the idea of exchanging homes between pensioners and families, clearly rejected the proposal. According to information from the Handelsblatt, he does not see the new redistribution approach as a suitable means of alleviating the housing shortage. Instead, more and faster construction must be carried out.
