Grüne on housing

The Greens want to create housing mainly in existing buildings: through conversion, adding stories, attic conversions and filling gaps between buildings. The state building code is to be fundamentally revised so that building becomes cheaper without easing off on climate and environmental protection. Building applications should be possible digitally everywhere.

The Greens want more homes in existing buildings. It should be easier to convert houses and add floors. Building should become cheaper. For this, the state's building rules should be simpler. People should be able to file building applications online everywhere.

According to the platform, converting existing buildings saves resources, land and greenhouse gases and addresses the housing shortage. Converting, adding stories, renovating and changing use would become legally easier, and energy retrofits are to be socially fair. Rules on proving car parking spaces would be simplified, as would rules for serial construction and renovation. The party supports pilot projects for "Gebäudetyp E" (building with reduced standards) and innovative timber construction. Wood and other natural materials are to become the standard. State construction projects would make greater use of digital planning methods.

The Greens want the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to secure land through a state development company or make it available under long-term ground leases. Land should go to the best concept rather than the highest bid, so that municipalities can steer development by social and environmental criteria.

The Greens want to set up a new state company. It should secure land for the state and for towns. Land should go to whoever has the best plan. The highest price should not decide. Empty houses in villages should be used again.

A state development company would secure plots for public bodies or provide them under ground leases (Erbpacht). State-owned buildings and unused sites that become available would be used for affordable housing. The advisory office "Neues Wohnen" would also take on vacancy management to reduce empty buildings in village centers. The program points to the Grundsteuer C (a property tax on undeveloped building land), already made available to municipalities to counter land speculation. The Greens also want a federal construction research center located in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Greens want to provide more money for subsidized housing and to fund renovation, added floors and conversions on equal terms with new construction. Social housing should stay rent-restricted for longer and thus remain affordable. Municipal housing companies are to be strengthened or newly founded.

The Greens want more low-cost homes. The state should spend more money on them. Renovation and conversion should get money too. Social housing should stay cheap for longer. Cities should be able to set up their own housing companies.

The party wants longer rent-restriction periods on good terms. Municipalities should get help to strengthen or create housing companies. They should also be able to buy and renovate apartments that investors have neglected or left empty. When the state buys occupancy rights for existing apartments, the income limits should match those of the rental housing subsidy, so that more households with low and middle incomes qualify. The Greens say social housing must not be an object of speculation.

The Greens want existing housing to be used more efficiently. People who want to downsize or split their living space should get state guarantees and loans for the conversion. The party also supports municipal vacancy taxes and vacancy registers.

Some people have more space than they need. They can convert and share their house. The state should lend them money for that. The Greens also want a tax on empty homes. Municipalities should be able to introduce this tax.

According to the platform, older people in particular can imagine living in less space or sharing their home. Conversions and extensions are meant to create extra housing quickly and cheaply. Municipalities that set up their own housing management and match people with suitable homes should receive funding. Registers and taxes are meant to reduce vacancies, especially in village centers. Older people should also get state guarantees to finance a home of their own.

The Greens want to subsidize barrier-free conversions even for people without an assessed care level, and to give more support to inclusive and communal forms of housing. New dorm places are to be created for students and trainees. The aim is housing that allows independent living close to home at any age.

The Greens want to fund homes without barriers. This should work even without an official care level. People with and without disabilities should be able to live together. Old and young should be able to share homes. Students and trainees should get more dorm places.

Assistance services should flexibly follow the place where a person chooses to live. People who opt for communal housing should get more help, for example when buying shares in a housing cooperative. For housing partnerships between young and old and for "Wohnen für Hilfe" (housing in exchange for help), the party wants to push at federal level for legally secure rules. The "Junges Wohnen" (young housing) program is to be put into practice and its funding rules checked for obstacles. At state-owned universities, the state itself should provide dorm places.

The Greens want the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) and the cap on rent increases to apply in more cities and districts than today. To that end, local conditions should be assessed at a finer scale. Exceptions for furnished or fixed-term rentals should be removed.

The rent brake limits how much rents may rise. Today it applies in only a few places in the state. The Greens want it in more places. They also want more checks. The same rules should apply to furnished apartments.

The platform proposes looking at conditions more closely, for example at the level of the Verbandsgemeinden (associations of small municipalities). The party wants more transparency and more effective checks. This is meant to record rent increases better and limit them in a more targeted way.

The Greens want to expand funding for town centers and bring vacant buildings back into use. In villages they favor renovation and conversion in the core rather than building on new land. Meeting places, village offices and reliable basic services are meant to secure rural life.

The Greens want lively town centers. Towns should get more money for this. Empty shops and houses should be used again. In villages, old houses should be converted instead of building new ones. There should be meeting places, shops and buses.

According to the platform, town centers should offer varied housing, cultural and social services, climate adaptation, climate-friendly mobility and small owner-run shops and restaurants. Sustainable logistics models are to be supported. In villages the party wants to promote communal and multigenerational housing and to create village offices, co-working spaces and digital infrastructure. Meeting places named in the platform include playgrounds, benches, village shops and inns. The Greens also count childcare, medical care, bus connections, youth spaces and leisure activities as basic public services.