Grüne on housing

The Greens want to make housing more affordable. To do so, rent increases are to be limited and social housing construction supported.

The Greens want housing to cost less. Rents should not rise so fast. The state should support low-cost homes. There should be a plan for enough homes.

The platform names three steps: limiting rent increases, supporting social housing, and presenting a strategy for housing that matches demand. That strategy is to cover both existing buildings and new construction. For the Greens, affordable housing is one of the factors that decide people's chances in life.

The Greens want to limit rent increases more strongly. The Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) would be extended with fewer exemptions, and rent freezes would become possible in tight housing markets.

Many people pay more and more rent. The Greens want stricter limits on rents. The rent brake should last longer and be stricter. In some places rents should not rise at all. Tenants should no longer pay the property tax.

The rent brake would already apply to homes more than five years old, and workarounds via furnished or vacation rentals would end. Rent indexes would cover a longer period, and municipalities could determine for themselves that their market is tight. The relevant section of the Economic Offenses Act would be strengthened against excessive rents. Index-linked rents would be capped, caps on rent increases lowered, and renovation costs would not be allowed to raise total rent including heating. Landlords could no longer pass the property tax on to tenants, and commercial tenants would also get protection.

The Greens want to end homelessness by 2030 and further develop the National Action Plan for this purpose. In the platform's view, having a home of one's own is a precondition for dignity and participation in society.

Some people have no home. The Greens want to change that by 2030. Homeless people should get a home first. No one should end up on the street after an eviction. Help should be open to everyone.

Preventive, easy-to-reach support and tailored services, for instance for women and families, are meant to keep people from losing their homes. Evictions that leave people without shelter should not happen. The Housing First approach is central: homeless people get an apartment without preconditions. Other tools such as social housing agencies would be added. Access to support should not depend on citizenship or residence status.

The Greens want to protect tenants better against termination of their leases and permanently restrict the conversion of rental apartments into condominiums. Swapping apartments is to become legally easier so that housing is used better.

The Greens want to protect tenants better from losing their home. This applies when owners want the home for themselves. It also applies when tenants owe rent. Tenants should know their rights better. People should be able to swap homes more easily.

Protection would grow markedly for terminations based on the owner's own use and on rent arrears. The Umwandlungsbremse (conversion brake), which limits splitting rental buildings into condominiums, would apply without a time limit. Tenants would be better informed about their rights, and municipalities would be able to help them enforce those rights. For home swaps, legal hurdles would be lowered and support programs made more flexible.

The Greens want to make it easier to acquire a first owner-occupied home, which the platform says offers security, freedom and provision for old age. Young families in particular would get low-interest government loans, and the incidental costs of buying would fall.

The Greens want more people to be able to buy their own home. The state should give cheap loans. This helps young families most. Fees for brokers and notaries should go down.

Support would go to buying or building a first home, and to converting vacant apartments and adding living space. A particular focus is on energy retrofits of vacant homes and on dividing underused single-family houses. Buyers would get relief on broker and notary fees. The Wohnungsbauprämie (home-building savings bonus) would rise with inflation and be aligned with climate goals. Groups of tenants who want to take over their building, for example as a cooperative, would get low-cost loans or guarantees.

The Greens want to create more housing mainly within existing buildings. To do so, building law would be simplified, procedures digitized and harmonized nationwide, and construction standards scaled back. Converting should become more attractive than demolishing and building new.

The Greens want more homes in buildings that already exist. For example in empty offices or under the roof. Building should become easier and cheaper. There should be less red tape.

The platform sees potential in adding floors, finishing attics, converting office and commercial space, and bringing vacant buildings back into use; it says several million homes could be created this way. Hurdles in building and tax law and the administrative burden would be reduced. Requirements for construction standards that the platform considers excessive would be rolled back. Energy retrofits would be easier to combine with added floors or extensions. Serial construction using sustainable methods would also be strengthened.

The Greens want to prevent speculation in homes and building land. They plan public land funds, a land policy more oriented toward the common good, and limits on payouts by housing companies that let their buildings decay.

The Greens want to stop speculation with homes and land. The federal government should get its own land fund. Companies should look after their buildings. If not, they may pay out less profit. Tax tricks in property deals should end.

Housing corporations and real estate companies would be obliged to take responsibility for the condition of their apartments; if they fail to do so, their profit distributions would be capped. A federal land fund would be set up, and municipalities would get help building their own funds. When land gains value because planning law changes, the public sector would share more in that gain. Tax workarounds such as share deals would be closed. Municipalities' right of first refusal would be strengthened.

The Greens want to raise federal funding for social housing and give special support to non-profit and cooperative housing companies. Rent and occupancy restrictions on such housing would become permanent.

The Greens want to spend more money on social housing. These are cheap homes for people with little money. These homes should stay cheap for good. There should also be more homes without barriers.

The federal government would increase its funds for social housing. Investment and construction grants are meant to ensure that occupancy and rent restrictions no longer expire. The Neue Wohngemeinnützigkeit (new non-profit housing scheme) would be built up into an effective tool of the social housing market. The share of barrier-free new rental apartments in social housing should grow faster, and people affected should get more help with adaptations.

The Greens want to focus subsidies for building and renovation on low and middle incomes and scale them by the energy saved. The renovation rate should rise significantly, and tenants should benefit from lower housing costs.

The Greens want to change the support for renovating homes. People with low incomes should get more money. People who save a lot of energy should also get more. More homes should be renovated each year. Tenants should benefit too.

Advance payments are meant to let low- and middle-income households afford renovations. The platform highlights small measures such as insulating basement ceilings and top-floor ceilings or tuning the existing heating system. Landlords would get incentives to actually claim available public subsidies. A digital building passport is planned for public buildings so materials can be reused, and rules that hinder a circular economy in construction would be cut. Renovated buildings should qualify more easily as taxonomy-compliant, and new approaches would be tested in real-world labs.