Darmstadt decides on "socially just use of land

03.07.2019
In its meeting on 3 July 2019, the municipal council decided to introduce the principles for "socially just land use in Darmstadt" (SoBoDA) and to set up a responsible project group. The set of rules is one element of the 21 points of the bundle of measures of the Housing Policy Concept of the City of Science Darmstadt, which is used as a new overarching political steering instrument, and is listed in it under point eight.

Among other things, it obliges developers and investors to designate housing for low and medium incomes, to assume costs for planning services, development facilities and compensatory measures, and to participate in the financing of day-care centres and primary schools.

"Our goal is 10,000 new flats by 2020 - the introduction of the principles as well as the SoBoDA project group are elementary components of this plan. In this way, we ensure sustainable and socially acceptable housing development in the City of Science Darmstadt. For all services that developers are obliged to provide, the project group will ensure that the measures remain appropriate. Each building project will be individually assessed on the basis of a defined scheme by correlating areas, building rights, values and encumbrances and finally mapping the increase in value," explains Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch.

"Since March 2017, it has already been the case for the City of Science Darmstadt that at least 25 per cent of the gross floor area of housing must be secured for socially subsidised rental housing and at least 20 per cent for middle-income housing," adds Barbara Akdeniz, head of the social affairs department.

"For urban land, a municipal commitment under the SoBoDA stipulates that an additional up to 10 per cent of housing will be secured for special forms of housing, for example housing projects by cooperatives, building and housing groups, senior citizens or assisted living," Akdeniz continues.

In combination with the other 20 measures and instruments of the housing policy concept - including the development of new building areas, redensification, qualified rent index, rent brake - the City of Science Darmstadt is using the SoBoDA to drive the creation of housing and show how the urgently needed affordable housing in Darmstadt can be achieved.

The comprehensive portfolio of instruments and measures of the housing policy concept is primarily intended to improve the supply of population groups disadvantaged on the housing market (low and medium income). Through the development of social, ecological and transport policy innovative concepts, further neighbourhoods with a high quality of life will be created in the urban area.

Background: The principles of socially appropriate land use apply to urban development contracts/implementation contracts insofar as new, additional planning law for residential use is created. Only if the city creates new planning law and the investor can expect an appropriate added value as a result, can urban development contracts with the specification of "socially appropriate land use" measures be considered. In contracts for the allocation and sale of urban land to be used as housing, the rules of the SoBoDA apply regardless of new planning law. The housing policy concept as well as the regulatory contents of the SoBoDA are regularly evaluated and adapted if necessary. .