The researchers consider a gross warm rent that is less than 30 percent of the household income to be affordable.
"Nearly two million affordable homes are lacking. The situation is likely to get worse. Social housing must be promoted more strongly."
There is a shortage of 1.9 million affordable flats in major German cities. Low-income earners in particular often cannot find a rental flat they can afford. The situation for households at risk of poverty is particularly tense in Munich, the Rhine-Main region and Cologne-Bonn. But affordable housing is also scarce in cities with many low-income earners such as Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden. This is the conclusion reached by Henrik Lebuhn, Andrej Holm, Stephan Junker and Kevin Neitzel in a study funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The urban sociologists from Humboldt University Berlin and Goethe University Frankfurt investigated which flats people can afford and how this fits in with the supply on the respective rental market.
Henrik Lebuhn, Andrej Holm, Stephan Junker and Kevin Neitzel:How many and which flats are lacking in major German cities? (pdf) The social coverage gap by income and housing size, Hans Böckler Foundation Research Funding Working Paper No. 63, April 2018.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) is expanding its funding for fuel cell heating systems. With immediate effect, you can apply to KfW for attractive subsidies for the installation of fuel cell heating systems in both all residential and non-residential buildings. Private individuals, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises (including contractors) as well as municipal and non-profit organisations are eligible to apply.
The subsidy is available for fuel cell heating systems with an electrical output of up to 5 kW that are installed either as part of a refurbishment or a new build. Depending on the electrical output, a subsidy of up to 28,200 euros per installed fuel cell is possible.
The aim of extending the funding is to establish the pioneering fuel cell technology for supplying electricity and heat in buildings on a broad market. Fuel cell heating systems are significantly more efficient than conventional combined heat and power systems. The natural gas or biogas used is utilised much more efficiently, which also leads to lower CO2 emissions.
Grant funding for fuel cell heating systems is part of the German government's "Energy Efficiency Incentive Programme". It supplements the existing KfW programmes for energy-efficient construction and renovation. Since the programme was launched in August 2016, the installation of over 900 fuel cell heating systems, primarily in detached and semi-detached houses, has been supported with grants of around 13 million euros.
In its 2.10.2017 published opinion the German Advisory Council on the Environment calls on the incoming German government to initiate the coal phase-out without delay. The upcoming legislative period offers the last chance to set the course for an appropriate implementation of the Paris climate goals in Germany.
"Germany must reduce power generation from coal as quickly as possible and end it in the medium term, otherwise the climate targets in Germany cannot be achieved. The structurally compatible coal phase-out should therefore be initiated immediately. The last power plant must be taken off the grid in 20 years at the latest," explains Prof. Claudia Kemfert.
The basis of the coal phase-out should be a budget of the total amount of greenhouse gases that may still be emitted by coal-fired power plants until their final shutdown. This amount should be fixed by law. "From a scientific point of view, the remaining emissions budget for coal-fired power generation in Germany should be 2,000 megatonnes of CO2 Prof. Wolfgang Lucht specifies.
In its report, the SRU proposes a phase-out in three phases: The most emission-intensive power plants should be taken off the grid by 2020. On this basis, more modern plants could continue to operate at reduced capacity until about 2030 to ensure security of supply and to preserve jobs. In the 2030s, these power plants should then also be decommissioned. The federal government must now define the framework for this.
Climate protection and the shaping of structural change must go hand in hand. A long-term and structured phase-out path offers those affected planning security and can ensure that the burden is shared as fairly as possible. The phase-out path and its structural policy support should therefore be discussed in a commission together with the affected regions, companies, trade unions and environmental protection associations.
The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) has been advising the German government on environmental policy issues for almost 45 years. The Council's composition of seven professors from different disciplines ensures a scientifically independent and comprehensive assessment, both from a scientific and technical perspective as well as from an economic, legal and health science perspective.
The Council currently consists of the following members:
Prof. Dr Claudia Hornberg (Chair), Bielefeld University
Prof. Dr Manfred Niekisch (Vice-Chairman), Goethe University and Frankfurt Zoological Garden
Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Free University of Berlin
Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Hertie School of Governance and German Institute for Economic Research
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Lucht, Humboldt University Berlin and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lamia Messari-Becker, University of Siegen
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Vera Susanne Rotter, Technical University Berlin
German Advisory Council on the Environment, Berlin www.umweltrat.de
The new housing development "Ludmilla Wohnpark" was built in Landshut with more than 180 residential units in plus-energy construction. Five single-family houses, two semi-detached houses, six terraced houses and eight multi-family houses with a total of 55 flats were built on a plot of around 7,300 square metres.
Researchers from Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Technical University of Dresden are evaluating the quarter and optimising the technology in operation. There is an initial report on this in the BINE-Info: www.bine.info/...plusenergie-konzept-in-siedlung-getestet
(the ESD info service was discontinued at the end of 2020)
Almost 1 billion euros in federal funding for urban development and social integration in neighbourhoods in 2020
The federal and state governments have jointly developed a new structure for urban development funding from 2020: A total of €790 million will be available in three (instead of the previous six) concentrated urban development funding programmes. In addition to the funding requirement of climate change/climate adaptation, including urban greening, the possibility of stronger inter-municipal cooperation has also been added.
A further 200 million euros are available in the "Social Integration in the Neighbourhood" investment pact. This will enable the municipalities to press ahead with the expansion and refurbishment of their social infrastructure.
Federal Minister of the Interior Seehofer signed the corresponding administrative agreements today. Federal funding for urban development and social integration will thus be stabilised at a high level.
Federal Minister of the Interior Seehofer: "We are streamlining our funding structure. This will make it easier for cities and municipalities to implement their projects. In addition, climate protection will become a funding requirement. Urban development funding without climate protection will no longer exist in the future."
The following federal-state urban development programs are available for the 2020 funding year:
"Living Centres" to promote inner development and historic city centres (300 million euros),
"Social cohesion" to promote coexistence in neighbourhoods (EUR 200 million),
"Growth and Sustainable Renewal" to adapt to demographic and structural change and to design liveable neighbourhoods (290 million euros),
"Investment Pact for Social Integration in the Neighbourhood" (200 million euros).
The administrative agreements will enter into force as soon as all federal states have countersigned.
The urban development funding provided by the federal and state governments triggers considerable follow-up investments. For the year 2020, it is assumed that the total investment volume triggered by the funding will be around 12 billion euros, and the expected gross value added will be around 14 billion euros. The subsidies also support the small and medium-sized local economy to a large extent: approx. 36 percent of the expected construction volume remains in the municipality itself, another approx. 48 percent in the region with a radius of 50 km. The construction industry benefits from this with 71 percent of the implemented investment funds.
Source: PM of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for building and homeland (BMI) from 19.12.2019
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Henrik Lebuhn, Andrej Holm, Stephan Junker and Kevin Neitzel: How many and which flats are lacking in major German cities? (pdf) The social coverage gap by income and housing size, Hans Böckler Foundation Research Funding Working Paper No. 63, April 2018.
