Building Alliance: Advancing building refurbishment

The associations and organisations involved in the Building Alliance (Graphic: NABU)

The energy transition in the building sector has stalled. Less and less is being invested in energy-efficient refurbishment and the Paris climate protection targets are in jeopardy. The reason for this is inadequate advice and the uncertainty of many consumers on the one hand, as well as inadequate government regulations and poorly managed subsidies on the other. For almost two years now, the Building Alliance, an association of environmental and consumer organisations with energy consultants, tradesmen, trade unions, the building industry, architects' associations and the construction industry, has been positioning itself against this. Under the leadership of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), numerous natureplus members such as BUND, BAUM e.V. and IG Bau are also working together in favour of more climate protection in the building sector.

In a recent statement, the Building Alliance calls on a new German government to "make the neglected third of the energy transition in the building sector an integral part of an integrated climate protection and energy policy". So far, politicians have "missed the opportunity to make energy-efficient building refurbishment the largest value creation and value retention programme in Germany and thus a real job engine for the domestic economy", criticises Jörg-Andreas Krüger, Deputy Federal Managing Director of NABU. Residential and non-residential buildings must now be addressed more strongly and more specifically than before by the three pillars of "information and advice", "support" and "demand".

A "lack of prioritisation and reliability" has unsettled investors, homeowners, tradespeople and businesses. In order to create reliability, "more transparency is needed in the assessment of buildings" through a standardised, optimised energy performance certificate. In addition, "high-quality, quality-assured advice from trained experts" in accordance with national standards is needed. Politicians must "set the course for reliable and permanent funding for high-quality consulting services and refurbishment measures". The refurbishment costs should be "shared equally between the state, landlords and tenants". At the same time, however, "new, market-based incentives are needed to mobilise additional investment and provide smart incentives", concludes NABU.

Source: Building alliance: advancing building refurbishment

Keywords: Stock, DE-News, Environmental policy, Housing, Housing policy

Published 19 March 2018

Young housing cooperatives call for rethinking

Demand Paper of the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin of 9 March 2018

In order to promote the construction of affordable housing, an alliance of young cooperatives was founded in Berlin in 2017. "Housing cooperatives have been a cornerstone of the socially responsible and affordable housing market in Berlin for well over 100 years," notes Bremer Höhe cooperative board member and Alliance spokesman Ulf Heitmann. "In order to maintain the share of cooperative housing alone, which is currently around twelve percent, more than 20,000 cooperative apartments would have to be built in the coming years in view of the rapid population growth," Heitmann calculates.

The alliance also considers the cooperative development of building land in Berlin to be a failure: in order to reduce the rents for one third of the new apartments, the price for the remaining two thirds is being driven up even further - with fatal consequences for the market as a whole.

Moreover, small and medium-sized cooperatives in particular, which have only been operating on the market for a few years, would be systematically thwarted - contrary to what the red-red-green coalition agreement in the capital promised: "The young cooperatives do not have the necessary equity capital for financing overpriced plots of land and for construction. As a result, prospective buyers would have to bring higher deposits - making cooperative building unattractive despite low interest rates." In view of the skyrocketing land prices in Berlin, the new Alliance of Young Cooperatives is calling for completely new allocation procedures and financing instruments.

Good idea instead of even more money

This includes the massive activation of public building land and the allocation via quality and concept procedures instead of a price competition. "The success of the building groups in the first 2000s showed it: social and integrative aspects must play a much greater role if housing construction is to find public acceptance," argues Andreas Barz, co-alliance spokesman and CEO of the Studentendorf Genossenschaft.

In concrete terms, the initiative therefore calls for a scoring procedure to be applied when awarding public building land, in which, for example, low-cost, space-efficient or experimental construction and housing, social criteria such as inclusive housing projects for refugees, intergenerational or student housing, the provision of community facilities such as kindergartens or neighbourhood shops, low-car or ecological housing would be assessed using a points catalogue. The points score would also be rated higher than the price offered. In addition, the alliance of 25 cooperatives advocates diversity in the allocation process and therefore proposes that individual housing cooperatives be allocated a maximum of two public areas.

In addition, the Alliance of Young Housing Cooperatives is calling for equity replacement as a new funding tool. "It would be most effective to provide the young cooperatives with 20 percent of the total costs for land and construction as a lost grant, i.e. as a non-repayable subsidy.

As a further funding instrument for low-income households, the Alliance recommends that cooperative shares also be financed via KfW loans - this would help low-income households in particular, such as single parents or pensioners. "The current practice of building subsidies completely misses their needs. Even new instruments such as the Baukindergeld, which has been discussed for weeks, only benefit those who already have equity capital and collect this state subsidy on the side - those who do not bring any equity capital with them remain outside," Barz complains. "We counter this with the financing of cooperative shares via KfW, in order to also offer low-income earners a perspective on the hotly contested housing market."

About the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin
The Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin was launched in the summer of 2017. The alliance includes 25 Berlin building and housing cooperatives - among them well-known citywide cooperatives such as the "Bremer Höhe" eG, the Studentendorf Schlachtensee cooperative, the Möckernkiez cooperative, which will be ready for occupancy this year after a difficult financing phase, and sponsors of internationally renowned projects such as the Spreefeld in the Mitte district.

The demand paper is presented at the recent construction site of the housing cooperative "Am Ostseeplatz" in Lynarstraße, Weddingen, which was one of the winners of the 2015 competition for Experimental Multi-storey Housing in Berlin with this community housing project.

download pdf of the claim paper

Website and contact of the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin
http://junge-genossenschaften.berlin

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Stakeholders, Cohousing, News Blog Berlin, Mix of uses, Quarters, Housing policy, Housing projects