Housing is the social issue of the 21st century, German politicians and experts say time and again. And yet there's no improvement in sight, especially in cities, where affordable housing is in short supply.
On that day, the single father from Afghanistan, who had been living in Germany for more than 16 years, received notice that his lease near Bonn was being terminated because the owner was apparently planning to use it.
Due to high interest rates and construction costs, the German government is far from achieving its ambitious goal of building 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 social housing units.
Peter Kox, managing director of the Deutschen Mieterbund Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahr, told DW: "Almost 50% of people in the large cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Bonn are now eligible for subsidized housing based on their income.
There is a reason why Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that housing is the most important social issue in Germany: It not only affects single-parent families, the unemployed, students, and refugees, but increasingly the middle class as well.
Now, he says, some members who Kox hasn’t heard from for years are coming forward looking for a place to live: “For example, because their landlords is trying to get rid of them so that they can rent out the apartment again at a higher price.”
At the same time, they warned of a “dangerous scenario in which a crisis in the housing construction sector could trigger a domino effect and cause massive damage to large parts of the economy.”
The original article contains 1,218 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
On that day, the single father from Afghanistan, who had been living in Germany for more than 16 years, received notice that his lease near Bonn was being terminated because the owner was apparently planning to use it.
Due to high interest rates and construction costs, the German government is far from achieving its ambitious goal of building 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 social housing units.
Peter Kox, managing director of the Deutschen Mieterbund Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahr, told DW: "Almost 50% of people in the large cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Bonn are now eligible for subsidized housing based on their income.
There is a reason why Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that housing is the most important social issue in Germany: It not only affects single-parent families, the unemployed, students, and refugees, but increasingly the middle class as well.
Now, he says, some members who Kox hasn’t heard from for years are coming forward looking for a place to live: “For example, because their landlords is trying to get rid of them so that they can rent out the apartment again at a higher price.”
At the same time, they warned of a “dangerous scenario in which a crisis in the housing construction sector could trigger a domino effect and cause massive damage to large parts of the economy.”
The original article contains 1,218 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!