Grüne on housing

The Greens want 3,500 subsidized and price-capped homes built each year at first, rising to 5,000 in the medium term. Housing construction is to focus more on the need for affordable homes.

The Greens want more low-cost homes to be built. At first it should be 3,500 a year. Later it should be 5,000 a year. The city is to support the building with money.

The Bündnis für das Wohnen (alliance for housing) is to become an alliance for affordable housing, together with the housing industry, municipal companies, cooperatives and tenant associations. The city-owned SAGA is to take on more responsibility, and municipal housing construction is to be boosted. Funding terms for subsidized housing are to stay attractive in the long run. Conditions for cooperatives and private builders are also to improve. The platform cites the shortage of affordable homes and the situation of the construction industry as reasons.

The Greens want to lower construction costs by speeding up planning and permitting and by adjusting design requirements. There are to be no cutbacks on sustainability.

The Greens want to make building cheaper. Offices should handle building applications faster. The rules should be easier to understand. Homes made from ready-made parts should be built more often.

For large and complex building permits, the authorities are to cooperate better and be involved early, so that late requests for documents or expert reports no longer occur. The Bauvorlagenverordnung (ordinance on building application documents) is to be worded more clearly. Artificial intelligence is to guide applicants through the digital process. Serial and modular construction is to be promoted and made easier, with SAGA leading the way.

The Greens want to raise the share of subsidized homes in private building projects from one third to at least half. Municipal development areas are to go mainly to public-interest developers, which are to be strengthened.

In new building projects, half of the homes are to be subsidized. Until now it has been one third. City land is to go mainly to builders that do not aim for profit. These include SAGA and cooperatives.

For projects of ten or more units on private land, at least 50 percent are to be subsidized, one fifth of that for households in urgent need; half of the privately financed remainder is to be rental housing. On public land, SAGA, Fördern & Wohnen, cooperatives, building groups and foundations are to be preferred, with 30 percent of subsidized new homes meant for households in urgent need. The Greens want to examine how SAGA surpluses can flow more into new construction and renovation. Fördern & Wohnen, ABB GmbH and IBA Hamburg are to be expanded, and cooperatives get loans through the IFB. An umbrella cooperative with a solidarity fund is planned for building groups.

The Greens want to extend the rent commitment period for subsidized homes to 40 years and keep expiring commitments alive with financial incentives. In new subsidized homes, rent is to be tied to income so that more homes can be created with the same funding.

Subsidized homes are to stay low-cost for 40 years. The rent is to depend on income. People who earn more pay a little more rent. The tax office is to check income every 5 years.

In newly built subsidized homes, rent is to rise moderately once income passes certain thresholds; the check is to run every five years automatically through the tax office. A campaign with higher incentives is to get owners to extend commitments. The Greens want to check regularly whether exempted areas should again fall under occupancy rules. Income limits for housing subsidies are to rise automatically with inflation, following the example of Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Greens want to support families in building or buying a home they live in themselves. Low-interest city loans are to be available from two children on, and later an allowance on the real estate transfer tax is to be added.

Families should find it easier to buy their own home. The city is to give low-cost loans to families with two or more children. Until now, they need three children. Later, families are to pay less tax on their first purchase.

So far, Hamburg offers such loans to families with at least three children and low or middle incomes. The allowance on the real estate transfer tax is to apply to a first purchase for own use. It is to come once the federal government creates the legal basis and closing the share-deal loophole secures the funding. Company housing near workplaces is to be supported through cooperative and business initiatives.

The Greens want to implement the federal Neue Wohnungsgemeinnützigkeit (new nonprofit housing status) quickly and add a separate Hamburg funding segment. This is meant to create an additional stock of permanently low-cost rental homes.

The Greens want a new kind of support for housing companies. In return, the companies must offer low rents for good. They must put their money back into housing. They then pay less tax and get city land more easily.

Access is open to companies whose articles of association commit them permanently to rents well below the local rent index, to keeping assets tied to nonprofit purposes, to a capped return on equity and to reinvesting in existing stock and new construction. Nonprofit housing companies are to get preference for city land and relief on property tax and real estate transfer tax. Homes for trainees and students and small accessible homes for older people are also to be supported. Expensive micro-apartments in luxury residences are to be limited.

The Greens want to expand home swapping with SAGA and set up a relocation office with moving bonuses for the private market. Older people are to be able to move into smaller homes at low cost, while families find larger ones.

Some people have a home that is too big. Families often look for a bigger one. The Greens want to make swapping homes easier. A new office is to help with this, and there is to be money for moving.

Home swapping and changing apartments is to be developed further together with SAGA so that more tenants can use it. For private housing, a concept for a relocation office is planned, along with bonuses. Models from other cities serve as a guide. The idea is aimed at older people who no longer need a large apartment or a single-family house.

The Greens want to use all state-level tenancy and building law tools to protect tenants. Vacancy and misuse of housing are to be pursued by dedicated district task forces, preservation ordinances are to be extended, and the rent index is to be calculated differently.

Homes should not stand empty. They should also not be used as offices or vacation rentals. Special teams in the districts are to check this. The city is to pass such homes on to people in need.

The task forces in the district offices are also to do on-site outreach. Through Ersatzvornahme (the authority acting in the owner's place), misused homes are to go to the housing offices and be allocated to households in urgent need. The Greens want to check regularly where more social preservation ordinances are possible, to prevent luxury upgrades and the conversion of rentals into condos. For the rent index, the top three percent of rents are to be left out, and the median is to replace the arithmetic mean.

The Greens want to push for stronger tenant protection at the federal level, including through Bundesrat initiatives. Index-linked rents are to be abolished or sharply limited, loopholes in the rent cap closed, and evictions for the owner's own use restricted.

The Greens want to protect tenants better. For this, federal laws must change. Index-linked rents are to end or be strongly limited. These are rents that rise with prices. Evictions for the owner's own use are also to become harder.

According to the platform, index-linked rents are agreed more and more often in Hamburg and drive rents up when inflation is high. On the Mietpreisbremse (rent cap), the issue includes exemptions for furnished homes, which the platform says are used to get around the cap. Own-use evictions are to be limited more clearly to actual use by owners and close relatives. The Greens want to examine whether such evictions can be ruled out entirely for especially vulnerable groups in tight housing markets.

The Greens want new homes to be created mainly through densification and on land that is already sealed. Unsealed land is to be preserved because, according to the platform, it matters for climate adaptation, biodiversity and well-being.

The Greens want to use land sparingly. New homes are to be built where there are already buildings. Buildings are to get taller. Green areas are to stay free.

A densification strategy is to set out the goals: build higher as a rule, as long as buildings fit their surroundings, use added stories and gap sites, and replace underused sites such as single-story supermarkets. Serial, ecological addition of stories is to be advanced. The Magistralen, the main arterial roads, are to be used more for housing. Former port areas such as Grasbrook are also under consideration. Mainly multi-story apartment buildings in dense form are to be built.

The Greens want buildings to be renovated or converted as a priority rather than torn down. According to the platform, this is meant to preserve affordable housing and cut carbon emissions and construction waste.

Old buildings are to be torn down less often. They should be renewed or used in a new way instead. Empty offices are to become homes. This saves energy and protects low-cost homes.

Before any demolition, there is to be a mandatory check of whether it makes sense, for example because a building cannot be renovated or a new one uses the land better. Converting commercial space into housing is to become simpler and receive funding. The Greens want to examine adding a conversion code to Hamburg's building code. For city-owned properties, reuse is to be examined as a rule, and reuse of components made possible if demolition is needed. Building files are no longer to be destroyed but kept in a digital building and property file; material passports and the BIM method are to make dismantling and carbon accounting plannable.

The Greens want the city to buy land, sell hardly any, and grant it under hereditary leasehold instead. Rights of first refusal are to be expanded so that land, as a limited resource, serves affordable housing.

The city is to keep its land. It is to lease the land and not sell it. It is also to buy new land. This is how the party wants to secure low rents.

Hamburg's leasehold model is to be reviewed and adjusted if needed. At the federal level, the party is pushing for a municipal right of first refusal across the whole city area. For large projects on private land, there is to be an early check of whether a Städtebauliche Entwicklungsmaßnahme (urban development measure) capping land prices can be used. A cooperative building-land model is to have owners share infrastructure costs, while they keep at least one third of the planning-related gain in value.

The Greens want everything needed for daily life to be quickly reachable from home on foot, by bike or by bus and train. To this end, neighborhood centers are to be strengthened, land used in more varied ways and public spaces made more attractive.

Everything important should be close to home. This includes shops, doctors, schools and parks. People should get there easily on foot or by bike. Every district should have a lively center.

The platform names Paris and Barcelona as models. Every district is to have an easily reachable center with mixed uses, and zoning plans are to allow such mixes. Against vacancy, the party relies on private capital, for example through business improvement districts or redevelopment areas, and on public support. New funding and space-brokering companies modeled on Samaest in Paris are to mediate between landlords, the Kreativgesellschaft and potential tenants and promote temporary uses.

The Greens want to review the RISE funding program for disadvantaged neighborhoods, extend it, and add a fast-track version. At the same time, social infrastructure in the neighborhoods is to be built to fit local needs and its funding secured.

RISE is a city program. It helps neighborhoods with problems. The Greens want to check and improve the program. It should run longer. Youth centers and community culture centers should get secure funding.

The basic funding periods of RISE are to be made longer because, according to the platform, they are often too short and can only be extended after a laborious interim review. A new "RISE light" is to give the districts a simple short-term program for small areas. Neighborhoods on Hamburg's outskirts are to get more attention. The QUL and CoSI programs are to be continued and expanded. Youth centers, neighborhood culture centers, health centers, and club houses are to be financially secured.

The Greens want the city to effectively pursue excessive rents as an administrative offense. Tenants are to be able to report suspected cases easily and free of charge; in the Bundesrat, Hamburg is to push for a stricter ban.

Some landlords charge rents that are far too high. The Greens want to go after this more. Tenants should report high rents to the city for free. The city then checks the rent.

The basis is Section 5 of the Economic Offenses Act (Wirtschaftsstrafgesetz), which classifies excessive rent as an administrative offense. After a report, the city is to review the rent, press for a reduction if there is a violation, and take legal action if necessary. Through the Bundesrat, Hamburg wants the ban to be adjusted and tightened. The platform points to the severe housing shortage in the city.

The Greens want to make Hamburg age-friendly and counter age discrimination. Older people should be able to live in suitable, affordable homes and find more meeting places where no purchase is required.

The Greens want a good city for older people. There should be more homes without obstacles. Old and young should be able to live together. There should be more free meeting places. Nobody has to buy anything there.

The "Age-friendly City" action plan is to be implemented and updated. The party wants to promote more low-barrier, affordable homes as well as shared apartments and multigenerational housing. People who choose to move to a smaller home are to get neighborhood help with searching, packing and moving. Against loneliness, cross-generational meeting places and free outdoor leisure options such as boules courts or dance floors are planned. Senior meeting centers are to keep permanent professional staff support and reach new groups. Against heat, more trees, parks and public water dispensers are planned.

The Greens want to end homelessness by 2030 and make Housing First the guiding principle of support. Under this approach, a home of one's own comes at the start of the help, accompanied by further support.

The Greens want no one to be without a home by 2030. Homeless people should get a home first. After that they get more help. Fewer people should lose their homes.

The Housing First pilot project is to become permanent and part of the regular system, and support services accompanying housing are to be expanded. The party calls for far more apartments for people with urgent housing needs. Forced evictions are to be prevented more effectively, and terminations for owner's personal use or money problems are to be further restricted by law. For terminations due to behavior, support structures are to mediate between tenants, neighbors and property managers. Job centers and basic income offices are to give priority to applications involving rent and moving costs. Young adults should no longer leave youth welfare without housing and should be able to return to it up to age 27.

The Greens call for removing the village of Moorburg from the port development area. In their view, only this allows the village to develop with housing construction, renovations and businesses.

The village of Moorburg has been part of the port expansion zone for over 40 years. The Greens want to end that. Then new homes can be built and old houses repaired. The village should stay.

The platform calls release from the port development area a central demand. Buildings owned by the municipal housing company SAGA and the city's real estate agency LIG are to be renovated quickly, alongside new private and public housing. The platform says village development is compatible with the Sustainable Energy Hub and with commercial use on former dredge disposal fields. The aim is a combination of village development, businesses tied to the energy transition and nature conservation areas.

The Greens want to create considerably more dorm places for young people in vocational training and at university. The share of trainees with a dorm place is to rise from under 3 to as much as 13 percent by 2030, and 2,000 new places are to be built for students.

Housing in Hamburg is expensive. This hits trainees and students hard. The Greens want to build more dorm places. Students should get 2,000 new places by 2030. Many more trainees should get a place too.

According to the program, Hamburg should remain an attractive place for vocational training, which requires affordable housing for trainees. The share of trainees supplied with dorm places is to grow from under 3 percent today to as much as 13 percent by 2030. For students, 2,000 additional dorm places are planned by 2030. The party argues that the housing allowance in BAföG (federal student aid) does not cover Hamburg rents and that studying should not depend on parents' income.