Federal Minister Hubertz's Housing Agenda: A Fresh Start
Hubertz expresses a sense of accountability
Get ready for some major changes in the housing sector! Our new Federal Minister of Housing, Verena Hubertz, is swimming against the current to create new and affordable social housing, and she's not shy about tackling the challenges ahead. Tune in on Wednesday evening to ZDF's Markus Lanz show to hear all about it!
Verena Hubertz, a 37-year-old entrepreneur and former startup founder, took on the Ministry of Housing after a less-than-stellar performance from the previous administration. With one million social housing units in Germany—a number that's more than halved since the late 1980s—Hubertz understands the urgency of the situation. She's not content with just chasing numbers and clearing hurdles. She wants to create meaningful change.
Balancing Ambition and Reality
So just how ambitious is Hubertz? She's not about to carve a number in stone and chase it blindly. Instead, she'll assess the situation regionally, considering factors such as immigration and demographic shifts. She's stated that her ministry will focus on building as much as it can, while also prioritizing innovation, technology, and tolerance.
Streamlining Bureaucracy and Cutting Costs
One of Hubertz's key goals is reducing bureaucracy by 25 percent. She's also aiming to create affordable housing in new buildings, targeting monthly rents of just 15 euros per square meter. To achieve this, she's taken a bold step by cutting her own ministry's staff by 500 employees and slashing subordinate authorities by around 2500. But can she pull it off?
Dismantling Barriers and Embracing Innovation
Economist Matthias Günther, head of the Pestel Institute in Hannover, acknowledges that achieving rents of less than 15 euros in new buildings might be challenging given city-specific factors like high land costs. However, implementing stricter adherence to standards and reducing unnecessary expenses could lead to cost savings of up to 30 percent.
A United Front for Construction Acceleration
The construction process in Germany is notorious for being overly bureaucratic, with each federal state having its own building codes totaling around 4,000 norms. Hubertz is well aware of this issue and is working to harmonize and adopt these codes across the country. She's collaborating with the federal states and discussing the potential dismantling of unnecessary regulations at the Building Ministers' Conference.
What's more, Hubertz has embraced the concept of Building Type E and is pushing for deviations from technical standards to encourage more affordable housing options. But can it all come together to jump-start the construction industry and bring more affordable housing to Germany?
The answer lies in finding the right balance between ambition and pragmatism, innovation and tradition, and bold change and careful planning. Can Verena Hubertz navigate the tricky waters of German housing policy and steer a course towards a more affordable and sustainable future for all? Tune in to ZDF's Markus Lanz show on Wednesday evening to find out!
Insights:- Hubertz is balancing her ambitions with regional factors like immigration and demographic change.- She's addressing bureaucracy by aiming to reduce it by 25 percent and cutting her own ministry's staff and subordinate authorities.- Hubertz is collaborating with the federal states to harmonize building codes and dismantle unnecessary regulations.- The focus is on Building Type E, which allows for deviations from technical standards to encourage more affordable housing options.- Boosting the construction industry will require a housing construction stimulus package, though its introduction is yet to be confirmed.
- Verena Hubertz, the new Federal Minister of Housing, is implementing progressive changes to the employment policy within her ministry by reducing its staff and subordinate authorities, in an attempt to streamline bureaucracy and cut costs.
- Hubertz's housing-market agenda underscores the importance of investing in new, affordable, and innovative social housing solutions, as she seeks to create meaningful change and address the significant decline in social housing units over the past three decades.
- The employment policy within the housing sector is expected to shift under Hubertz's leadership, given her entrepreneurial background and desire to tackle the challenges in the housing-market, particularly within the context of policy-and-legislation and the broader political landscape.
- With the aim of driving growth in the finance and real-estate sectors, Hubertz is advocating for a general-news approach to housing policy, encouraging collaboration with federal states and implementing housing construction stimulus packages when necessary, while prioritizing innovation, technology, and tolerance.
