Berlin is stepping up the pace of new construction. (symbolic image)
© dpa
The Berliner Wohnungsbündnis (Berlin Housing Alliance) is being continued under new auspices. After more than three years, an updated alliance agreement has been adopted. Accordingly, the alliance will now be continued as an alliance of associations.
According to Governing Mayor Kai Wegner, the pace of new housing construction must pick up. "The housing shortage is immense," said the CDU politician after a meeting of the Alliance for New Housing Construction and Affordable Housing at the Rotes Rathaus under his leadership.
The alliance, which was launched in June 2022 under the previous red-green-red senate, is not to be abandoned. "We cannot tackle this challenge by working against each other, only with each other," said Wegner. According to the Governing Mayor, an even stronger focus on new construction is necessary. He also emphasized that the Senate was sticking to its goal of completing 20,000 apartments a year. This has been the case since the launch three years ago. Now it is important to ensure that new construction progresses even faster.
According to Berlin's urban development plan, there is a need for around 220,000 additional apartments by 2040. The Senate therefore wants to press ahead with the development of new urban districts. Building Senator Christian Gaebler (SPD) pointed out that Berlin has already achieved a great deal with the alliance and has completed around 50,000 apartments in the past three years. This is not the 60,000 that were actually targeted, "but 83 percent target achievement - you have to look for that nationwide." Berlin is already doing quite well.
Maren Kern from the board of the BBU Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies had already called for a "Housing Alliance 2.0" at the end of September - and believes that this has been achieved with the new agreement. "The housing market must be eased, and that can only be achieved through new housing construction," she said. The general conditions have become even more difficult. Kern addressed high construction costs and high financing interest rates for the construction industry. This makes it all the more important to significantly simplify building regulations in future.