The trade union IG Bau and the construction industry are calling for the future federal government to have its own building ministry.

“Housing is the social question of our time.

And it deserves the political weight of its own federal ministry, ”said the federal chairman of the industrial union building-agrarian-environment, Robert Feiger, the newspapers of the Funke media group.

The building department has been leading a “nomadic life” for 23 years, said Feiger.

“It was always an appendage - with traffic, with the environment, with the interior.” The Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently responsible for building.

The general manager of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry (HDB), Tim-Oliver Müller, demanded: "We need a strong Federal Ministry for Construction and Infrastructure to implement the huge projects to modernize our infrastructure."

"46 new apartments per hour"

One of the essential levers for the success of the mobility and energy transition will be an ambitious construction policy, said Müller.

"Building must no longer be an annex to a department, but must be placed at the center of action."

The SPD, Greens and FDP begin their coalition negotiations on Thursday to form a new federal government.

In their explorations, they had already agreed on the goal of building 400,000 new apartments every year.

Feiger said: “That means almost 1,100 newly built, ready-to-move-in apartments every day from Monday to Sunday - 46 per hour, 3 apartments every 4 minutes.

It's a round-the-clock job.

And that requires full strength, full political commitment and full weight at the cabinet table. "