SPD on housing

The SPD wants to keep creating housing in dormitories for apprentices. Companies that provide housing for apprentices themselves are to get advice and help with finding land and carrying out projects.

Apprentices have trouble finding housing. The SPD wants to build more dorms for them. Companies can also create housing for apprentices. The city wants to help them do so.

The program points to small and mid-sized training companies that often cannot offer housing of their own. Young people who move to Hamburg for an apprenticeship should be able to settle in well. The housing and living situation of apprentices and vocational college students is to become part of the Senate's skilled labor strategy.

The SPD wants to extend the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake), remove exemptions and lower the cap on rent increases to 11 percent. Housing protection and the municipal right of first refusal are also to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to protect renters better. The rent brake should apply longer. It limits rent in new leases. Rents should also rise more slowly than now.

At the federal level, the SPD wants to act against circumvention of the rent brake, for example through index-linked leases or abusive renting of furnished apartments. The city's right of first refusal in areas under social preservation ordinances is to be clarified so it can be used again. The next rent index is to use the median as its calculation method, which the SPD expects to dampen rent growth. The SPD describes its housing policy as cooperation instead of expropriation.

The SPD wants to revive housing construction after the rise in building and financing costs. The goal is to again permit 10,000 homes a year through faster procedures, new building land and more subsidies for affordable housing.

Too few homes are being built in Hamburg. The SPD wants to approve 10,000 new homes a year again. Permits should come faster. The city should support affordable homes more.

Building permits are to be issued faster, new land for housing developed and subsidies for affordable homes increased. Hamburg is to make full use of the new options in the revised federal building code, especially for housing. Companies are to get help finding land for employee housing. The SPD wants to renew the Bündnis für das Wohnen (housing alliance) with the housing industry.

The SPD wants to cut construction costs in Hamburg by about a third without using public subsidies. A new "Hamburg Standard" is meant to reconcile housing quality with affordable rents.

Building homes in Hamburg costs a lot. The SPD wants to cut these costs by about a third. New building rules are meant to help. They are called the Hamburg Standard. This should lead to more affordable homes.

According to the platform, construction currently costs about 4,500 euros per square meter, not counting land. The Hamburg Standard is being developed with around 150 participants from planning, construction and the housing industry. Existing standards, processes and rulebooks are to be reviewed and rebalanced using social, economic and ecological criteria. The city's construction competence center is to be expanded to support implementation, with the Rathausviertel in Wilhelmsburg as a pilot district.

The SPD wants to continue and gradually expand subsidized housing despite growing budget pressure. In larger developments, the share of subsidized apartments could rise to as much as half.

The SPD wants to keep funding many low-rent homes. The number should grow step by step. In big building projects, up to half of the homes should be subsidized. Today it is one third.

So far the "Drittelmix" applies: one third owner-occupied, one third market-rate rentals and one third subsidized housing. The platform points to about 80,000 publicly subsidized apartments and a nearly doubled subsidy budget. With a new third funding track there are four tiers with rents between 7.10 and 12.10 euros per square meter. According to the platform, up to 65 percent of residents could be eligible.

The SPD wants to keep the municipal housing company SAGA in public hands and continue its course of new construction, renovation and neighborhood development. An umbrella cooperative is also to make it easier to found new housing cooperatives.

SAGA belongs to the city of Hamburg. It rents out many low-cost homes. The SPD does not want to sell SAGA. It also wants to make it easier to start new housing co-ops. A co-op is owned jointly by its members.

SAGA is to renovate its 140,000 apartments to be carbon-neutral by 2045 under its own strategy. It is to lead on district-wide and portfolio-wide approaches once the federal building energy law allows them. According to the platform, SAGA and the cooperatives own about 36 percent of Hamburg's rental apartments. The planned umbrella cooperative is meant to ease new foundations, for example by building groups.

The SPD wants to keep developing residential neighborhoods through the RISE program and the Stiftung lebendige Nachbarschaften foundation. The areas covered by social preservation ordinances are to be kept, and new areas will be considered.

The SPD wants to make neighborhoods nicer to live in. It wants to spend money on squares, green spaces and meeting places. Some areas have special rules to protect tenants. These rules should stay. More areas may be added.

Over the next five years, schools and youth facilities, community centers, squares, parks and local services in neighborhoods are to be improved. Cooperatives and SAGA remain partners. There are currently 13 areas with social preservation ordinances, which are meant to limit displacement and speculation. Space is to be reserved in planning for social facilities and special forms of housing, such as group homes for young people or housing for seniors.

The SPD wants a funding program to encourage voluntary moves into smaller apartments and conversions of existing homes. Every district is also to offer the conditions for age-appropriate housing so people can stay in their neighborhood.

Some people live in a home that is too big for them. The SPD wants to help them move to a smaller one. There will be money and advice for this. Nobody has to move. Older people should be able to stay in their neighborhood.

The offer is aimed at tenants and owners who want to move and includes information, advice and financial incentives. Conversions such as adding a separate apartment to a single-family house are also to be supported. The SPD argues that existing housing would be used better and the whole housing market would benefit.

The SPD wants to build about four fifths of new housing within the existing built-up city and use undeveloped land only at selected sites. The platform lists a series of major urban development projects.

The SPD wants to build new homes mostly where buildings already stand. This should cover about 80 percent of new homes. Open land should be built on only in a few places. There are several large building projects in the city.

The plan relies on converting sites, adding density, for example along the main arterial roads, attic conversions and the "Hamburger Maß" density tool for the districts. Major projects include the Wilhelmsburg quarters, the covers over the A 7 highway, HafenCity, Grasbrook with housing for up to 6,000 people and about 16,000 jobs, and Mitte Altona with at least 1,900 more apartments. Others are the east of Hamburg, Diebsteich with a music hall and stadium, Berliner Tor and the arterial-roads concept. On new land, Oberbillwerder, Fischbeker Reethen and Science City Bahrenfeld are being developed.

The SPD wants to create more housing in downtown Hamburg and bring in new uses alongside retail. Squares and connections are to be upgraded, and the district centers strengthened as well.

The SPD wants more homes in the city center. Then the area is lively in the evening too. Squares should become nicer. A House of the Digital World is planned. The centers of the districts should also stay strong.

In the Kontorhaus district, inviting public places are to be created around Burchardplatz and Hopfenmarkt. Hammaburg-Platz is to be upgraded and the Domachse rebuilt as a link between downtown and HafenCity. The Haus der digitalen Welt is to be located at Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz. District centers are to keep leisure, culture and shopping options close to where people live.

The SPD wants the city to own at least half of its land area. Using leasehold, rights of first refusal and the Grundsteuer C tax, it aims to curb land speculation and keep housing affordable in the long run.

The SPD wants the city to own a lot of land. It should be at least half of the area. The city would then sell land less often. It would rather lease it for a long time. This should keep housing affordable.

Leasehold (Erbbaurecht) means the city grants long-term use of land instead of selling it. Grundsteuer C is a higher tax on land that is ready for building but left undeveloped. According to the platform, the city's share of land has grown steadily in recent years. Buildings no longer needed, such as parking garages or department stores, are to be converted rather than replaced, and companies that build staff housing are to get support.

The SPD wants to create at least 3,000 new housing places each for students and for apprentices by 2030. Rents in student dorms are to be tied to the housing allowance in BAföG (federal student aid).

Students and apprentices need cheap housing. The SPD wants to build 3,000 new places for each group by 2030. Dorm rent should not be higher than the student aid amount for housing. Companies get help if they build homes for staff.

The master plan for student housing will be updated. The long-term goal remains dorm places for 15 percent of students. For apprentice housing, the target is likewise at least 3,000 places by 2030. Companies that want to build housing for their employees will receive targeted support.