Grüne on housing

The Greens want to create at least 100,000 new, permanently rent-restricted social housing units. A nonprofit state company for housing and climate is to build, buy, and renovate public housing. The party reserves the option of taking real estate held purely for speculation into public ownership.

The Greens want 100,000 new social housing units. These are low-cost homes for people with little money. The state should set up its own company for this. It should build, buy, and renovate homes. The state may take over buildings that are only used for speculation.

The state company would work with municipalities and their housing companies to renovate public buildings to be climate-neutral and accessible. New public housing would come mainly from buying, converting, and adding floors to existing buildings, with new construction only where unavoidable. Investments in the billions would be made possible through the Niedersachsen-Fonds (a state investment fund). The share of public housing would rise step by step. New housing cooperatives and developers committed to the public good with long-term rent restrictions would receive support. The party also backs the federal plan for a new nonprofit housing status.

The Greens want to realign housing subsidies so that ecological, energy-efficient construction and social housing are rewarded more. A focus is on converting vacant buildings, especially in rural areas.

The state gives money for building homes. The Greens want to hand out this money differently. More money should go to climate-friendly building. Converting empty houses in the countryside should also get money.

Shared multi-generation living would be supported, for example in converted farmhouses. Vacant buildings would be renovated with public funds to be accessible and climate-friendly. Building law for existing buildings outside settlements and for former farms would be adjusted accordingly. Climate protection would count for more in heritage protection so that solar panels and heat pumps become possible. The existing ban on gravel gardens would be enforced and paired with incentives for near-natural gardens.

The Greens want the Mietpreisbremse (rent cap on new leases) to be usable wherever it is needed in the state and want to strengthen municipal rights of first refusal. The law against misuse of housing is to be tightened. A statewide hotline would offer free advice on tenancy law.

The Greens want to protect renters better. The rent cap should apply wherever homes are scarce. It limits the rent in new leases. Fewer homes should turn into vacation rentals. Renters should get free advice by phone.

Municipalities would be able to apply the misuse-of-housing law everywhere, because the platform says more and more homes are used as vacation or furnished short-term rentals. The advice service would pay special attention to discrimination in the rental market. The standards of the housing protection law would also apply to shared accommodation, such as for harvest workers or slaughterhouse employees. Housing oversight would be strengthened.

The Greens want construction to rely on pollutant-free, renewable, and recycled materials. Renovation and conversion are to take priority over demolition. A building resource certificate would show the total energy and material input of a building.

Building creates a lot of waste. The Greens want to reuse building materials. Old houses should be converted rather than torn down. A new certificate should show how many raw materials are in a house.

Subsidy programs would include requirements on the sustainability of building materials, and a separate program would promote recycled building materials. Municipalities would get help with mandatory carbon accounting. The state's climate and energy agency would become a climate and sustainability agency with more responsibilities for resource conservation and ecological building. The new certificate would include so-called embodied energy so that new construction and renovation can be compared more easily.

The Greens want to align the state building code with climate and sustainability goals and focus it more on renovating and using existing buildings. Minimum quotas would apply for recycled building materials. Attic conversions and mixed uses are to become easier.

The state's building rules should change. Converting buildings should become easier than today. Materials like wood and straw should be allowed more often. Part of the building materials must be recycled. Homes above a supermarket should be easier to build.

Conversions of existing buildings could deviate from rules made for new construction. Certification of environmentally sound and recycled building materials would be made easier. Minimum quotas for recycled materials would also apply in public tenders. Attic conversions would be simplified, for example regarding accessibility requirements. Mixed-use zones and different uses on a single lot would be made easier, in cooperation with municipalities.

The Greens want the state to be able to sell its own land below market value when it is used for subsidized housing or social and cultural facilities. Municipalities would get stronger rights of first refusal on building land, and the state land company would support them in developing settlements.

The state owns land. The Greens want to allow selling it more cheaply. This should apply to subsidized housing and social uses. Towns and cities should find it easier to buy building land first.

To do this, the state budget code and the rules on selling state property would be changed. Subsidized housing, social and cultural uses and public-interest bodies would benefit. The Niedersächsische Landgesellschaft (NLG, the state land company) would stockpile, sell and lease land in the public interest. Stronger municipal rights of first refusal would come through the land transactions act where possible. The party also wants to support converting existing housing, such as unused in-law apartments and attics or splitting up large homes.

The Greens want more funding for climate-neutral neighborhoods and climate adaptation in cities, for example through unsealing surfaces, urban greenery and green roofs. Incentives for mixed and temporary uses are meant to reduce vacant commercial space in city centers.

The Greens want to improve the climate in cities. There should be more green and less concrete. Roofs should become green too. Empty shops downtown should get new uses, for example for culture.

Pilot projects for climate-neutral neighborhoods and for climate adaptation such as heavy-rain precautions would receive more funding. Together with municipalities, the party wants to advance further pilot projects and support the exchange of best practices, from smart cities and sponge cities to local economies. Sponge cities are cities that absorb and store rainwater. Obstacles in building law to temporary uses by nonprofit or cultural groups would be removed. Urban design concepts for land-saving construction and neighborhood renovation would be funded through programs.

The Greens want to help municipalities set up their own land funds. The aim is to bring more plots into municipal ownership, or back into it, so that cities and towns can better steer their development.

Towns should own more land. For this they can set up a land fund. That is a pot of money for buying land. The Greens want to help with this.

The state would support the creation of such funds. The goal is to move land into municipal ownership or return it there. The platform argues this gives municipalities more room to shape and steer sustainable urban development.