A social housing disappears every 19 minutes in Germany.

The development that Mike Josef (SPD), head of the housing department, outlined late Thursday evening in the Frankfurt city parliament sounds dramatic.

But he also describes them in order to then show that Frankfurt is doing its best to buck the trend.

Gunter Murr

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The stock of social housing has halved to around 30,000 over the past 30 years, but recently new construction has increased.

While 292 apartments were funded with 25.7 million euros in 2019, the following year there were 100 more apartments, which cost the city a total of around 37 million euros.

Finally, in 2021, 434 apartments were funded for more than 39 million euros.

"For the first time, the budget was exhausted," said Josef.

Budget allocation exhausted for the first time

That is also evident for this year.

"The applications for the construction of subsidized apartments are going through the roof." The budget has been earmarked for around 47 million euros.

Josef announced that he would approach the city parliament for additional funds.

We are talking about 20 to 30 million euros.

The head of department attributes the demand for subsidies to his "consistent line".

The so-called building land resolution has been in force in Frankfurt for two years, according to which a 30 percent share of subsidized apartments is generally to be provided for residential construction projects for which new planning rights are being created.

"The quotas specified in the building land resolution are demanded by me and delivered by the investors," said Josef.

Sometimes it takes a little longer until approved social housing is actually built.

Therefore, Josef assumes that the high funding amounts of recent times will have a positive effect on the completions in the coming years.

340 apartments that were funded from various programs were added in 2021.

This year, 210 social housing units were completed by mid-September.

"There's more to come," Josef is convinced.

Just a few weeks ago, he signed a subsidy notice for 274 apartments on the Rebstock site.

The Schönhof site on Bockenheimer Landstrasse and the Avaya site in Gallus soon followed.

But the city is not only trying to stop the decline in social housing with new buildings.

At the same time, it is trying to extend expiring booking rights.

Because up to now it has been the case that subsidized apartments are usually only reserved for social tenants for 15 to 20 years and then come onto the open market.

The housing policy spokesman for the Greens in the Römer, Johannes Lauterwald, is committed to the principle that “once social housing, always social housing” applies, as in Austria, but this would require a change in the law at federal level.

Against the stock dwindling

As long as these do not exist, the city will solve the problem with money: It will pay the housing company GWH more than six million euros to ensure that 1,078 social housing units on Ben-Gurion-Ring in the north of Frankfurt remain.

It was also agreed with the municipal ABG Holding that every fourth apartment that becomes vacant will be transferred to social security.

200 additional social housing units have already been obtained in this way.

According to the ideas of the left in the Römer, the ABG should only allocate vacant apartments to social tenants.

But Josef refuses, since the social mix in the quarters would then no longer be guaranteed.

On this point he agrees with the CDU parliamentary group in Römer.

Their housing policy spokesman Albrecht Kochsiek pointed out that there were around 22,000 people on the ABG waiting lists who were not entitled to social housing.

"We also have to take care of these people." Greens city councilor Lauterwald relies on the plans of the federal government to reintroduce non-profit status for housing companies, which would bring them tax advantages.

"That would increase the scope of the ABG."