BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The number of social housing units in Germany fell again last year. At the end of 2023, there were around 1.072 million such apartments for people on low incomes nationwide, around 15,300 fewer than a year earlier. This is according to the German government's answer to a question from the Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which is available to the German Press Agency.

According to the answer, the construction of 49,430 social housing units was newly requested last year. Actually, the coalition government had planned to provide 100,000 new social housing units every year. However, the bottom line is that their number has been falling for years because many existing social housing units are no longer subject to rent control and can then be rented out at a higher price.

The Left Party's housing policy expert Caren Lay, who asked the question, spoke of a "historic low". "This is a fiasco in view of the unchecked rise in rents and increasing housing shortage," she explained. According to the figures, the loss of social housing has recently even increased: around 14,000 social housing units were lost in 2022.

The trend varies between the federal states. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Rhineland-Palatinate, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony, the stock fell by four figures in each case, according to Lay. In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, it increased by more than a thousand apartments.

Last year, the two most populous federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, saw a particularly high number of new requests, followed by Berlin and Hamburg. North Rhine-Westphalia (426,755), Bavaria (134,793) and Berlin (99,849) recorded the highest number of social housing units overall.

Rents for social housing are regulated by the state. Only people for whom the authorities see a special need are allowed to live there. After a certain period of time, however, the apartments can be rented out normally on the market. The duration of this commitment varies from state to state.

Lay criticized that the federal requirement for social housing construction of 2.5 billion euros last year was obviously not enough. "Especially now in the construction crisis, the public sector itself must build and demand more," she demanded. At least 20 billion euros should be made available each year for public social and non-profit housing construction./tam/DP/zb