The federal government wants to invest an extra billion euros in social housing this year. This was announced by Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz. The federal states are responsible for social housing. They will receive one billion euros from the federal government every year for the years 2020 to 2024. The SPD politician wants to increase the sum to two billion this year.
So that this is also good for the climate, the additional money is to be used to promote apartments with the high energy efficiency standard 55. She now wants to talk to the federal states about this.
Two billion euros is of course a lot of money, says Geywitz: "But if we want to build 100,000 social housing units in Germany every year, we will need significantly more than these two billion euros."
Habeck: The construction industry is missing climate protection targets
When it comes to climate protection, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is not satisfied with the industry's efforts: "The construction industry is not on course," he criticizes. Not enough energy is saved in buildings – for example in heating and hot water – to achieve the climate targets. In order to tackle this, the federal government has written many different measures into the coalition agreement.
A major point of contention at the housing construction day are the federal government's plans for energy efficiency. She wants to set the energy saving standards in construction and modernization significantly higher – to the standards 40 and 70.
Criticism from the housing alliance
This is criticized by the housing alliance, which includes associations from the real estate and construction industries, IG Bau and the tenants' association. They only want standards in the middle (Efficiency House 70 and 115) and back this up with a study.
In practice, higher efficiency standards rarely bring much savings, argues Dietmar Walberg from the Working Group for Contemporary Building. So that the moderately insulated apartments are still climate-neutral, they should be heated with renewable energies.
Habeck is skeptical about this plan. Germany has a "great hunger for renewable energies". The whole industry wants hydrogen, the cars should be electric. "In this respect, it naturally makes sense to prioritize efficiency, i.e. to use as little energy as possible," says Habeck.
First paper on climate-friendly construction by Easter
The debate about energy saving standards will probably continue. Habeck intends to present a new building energy law by 2023. As early as Easter, the Economics Minister has announced that he will formulate many of the key points for climate-friendly building and living and bring them through the cabinet in an "Easter package".
This would meet the desire of the construction and real estate industry for planning security. After the chaos surrounding the loss of KfW funding for the Efficiency House 55, many builders are unsettled.
Homeowners and companies should know early on what to expect, demands Felix Pakleppa from the Central Association of the German Construction Industry. Because if there is no planning now, there could be gaps in the construction projects in the coming year.
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