Affordable housing is a scarce commodity in the state capital.

This is also felt by the city officials.

Those who are paid according to the lower to medium tariff and salary levels of the public service will encounter great competition when looking for a suitable apartment.

60 percent of the city's employees live in Wiesbaden, 40 percent outside the city limits.

This was the result of a survey, the background of which was analyzed by the Office for Statistics and Urban Research.

In total, almost 2,000 municipal employees took part.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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Accordingly, the high apartment and real estate prices are the most important reason not to live in Wiesbaden and to accept longer commutes.

In addition, personal ties to the respective hometown (28 percent) play a role, as do family reasons (28 percent).

Almost every third commuter “simply likes it better somewhere else” than in Wiesbaden, according to the analysis.

Influence on the recruitment of skilled workers

For Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende and Head of Housing Christoph Manjura (both SPD), the “housing issue is the central social question of our time”. This applies to the entire urban community and therefore also to the employees of the state capital and its subsidiaries. According to Mende, not all employees who wish to live in Wiesbaden can afford this. Further efforts are therefore required to create affordable housing for all income groups. “For many employees, living space in Wiesbaden and the Rhine-Main region is generally not affordable,” confirms the chairwoman of the employee representatives, Ellen Poth. There were simply not enough apartments on offer in Wiesbaden, making it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled workers.

The results of the survey show that many urban workers are heavily burdened by housing costs. "Many even plan to move in the next five years," says the analysis. The majority have no or only a limited budget available to bear the associated additional costs in the face of constantly rising prices. According to Housing Department Head Manjura, the need for affordable living space is steadily increasing despite all efforts to expand the offer. In the survey, the majority of employees confirmed their wish that the city must find concepts for all Wiesbaden residents in order to solve this question.

The vast majority of employees rent a house (62 percent).

More than 70 percent are satisfied with their current apartment and their current place of residence.

However, one in five complains about housing costs.

Employees spend around a quarter of their monthly net household income on their accommodation.

In the case of those surveyed for rent, this is an average of 850 euros, while property is 1050 euros.

In Wiesbaden, the rental prices paid are slightly higher than outside the city limits.

There are many reasons for wanting to move

One in five perceives the housing costs as a major burden, one in two as a "certain burden". There are, however, major differences within the workforce: employees in simple and middle-class jobs feel very heavily burdened by housing costs to almost 30 percent. In contrast, in the top salary group, only one in ten perceives housing costs as a major burden. The perceived burden also differs depending on where you live: 28 percent of employees living in Wiesbaden feel heavily burdened by the housing costs. This proportion is twice as high as among those surveyed outside of Germany (13 percent).

Around 29 percent can imagine moving within the next two years and a further 24 percent in three to five years. All in all, around every second urban employee would be looking for an apartment in the next five years. The reasons for this are diverse. Primarily (for 44 percent) the size or furnishings of the apartment no longer fit, or the family situation has changed. This is followed by financial reasons. The desire to own a home is mentioned by every fourth person willing to move.

How do urban employees want to live in the future? In view of the limited financial possibilities, a large proportion of those willing to move aim to move to a rented apartment (49 percent) or a rented house (13 percent). A cooperative apartment would only be an option for twelve percent. Opinions differ on “new forms of living” such as cooperative projects or multi-generation houses. About half can basically imagine this, but the other half cannot.