SPD on housing

The SPD wants to fund the "Housing First" model permanently, after pilots at five sites, and extend it to all larger and mid-sized regional centers in the state. Under this approach, homeless people first receive an apartment, with further help following afterward.

Some people have no home. The SPD wants to give them an apartment first. Other help comes after that. This is called "Housing First". So far it exists in five places. In the future, all larger towns should have it.

The pilot is to become regular funding. Eight specialized counseling offices for securing housing are meant to prevent homelessness before it happens. The platform names the shortage of affordable housing as a central problem. The SPD therefore announces a social housing policy intended to limit rent burdens and counter displacement.

The SPD wants to keep social housing subsidies at the core of its housing policy and adjust them regularly to demand. Binding social quotas are meant to secure affordable homes for low- and middle-income households. Municipal and cooperative housing as well as communal housing projects are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to keep paying for low-cost homes. A fixed share of new homes should be low-cost. This is called a social quota. Towns and housing co-ops should be able to build more. People who want to live together in shared projects should get more help.

According to the platform, the state and the federal government together provide 350 million euros a year for the subsidies, almost twice the 2024 amount. The funding is meant to enable affordable, climate-friendly, accessible and communal housing in all regions and give builders planning certainty. Buying cooperative shares is to be better supported, as are innovative housing projects and the program "besser gemeinsam" (better together). Support for owner-occupied homes remains part of the social housing subsidies because the SPD wants to keep the state's high ownership rate. Housing subsidies, urban development funding, village renewal and neighborhood development are to be linked more closely.

The SPD wants to significantly increase the supply of affordable accommodation for students and apprentices. More dorms are to be built in university towns with tight housing markets, and places for apprentices where demand is highest.

The SPD wants more low-cost rooms for young people. This is for students and for apprentices. New dorms are planned in Mainz, Koblenz and Trier. Apprentices should also get dorm places.

Funding for so-called Junges Wohnen (housing for young people) is to come with especially favorable terms. More student dorms are to be built in the next legislative term, mainly in Mainz, Koblenz and Trier. Construction times are to be shortened, buildings are to be accessible, and ecological aspects are to be part of the planning. The SPD wants to develop the offer for apprentices together with training companies, chambers and business associations.

The SPD wants to combine the rules protecting tenants in a single tenant protection regulation. In addition, tight housing markets are to be identified for individual regions regardless of county borders.

The SPD wants to protect renters. Several rules on this should be in one single regulation. One of them is the rent brake. It limits the rent in new contracts. Homes should stay homes.

The platform points out that the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) in the state was extended until the end of 2029 and that a law against misuse of housing exists. The new regulation is to combine the limit on rents for new leases, the cap on rent increases, rules against converting housing to other uses, and further regulatory tools. The SPD says it will use all available instruments to protect and mobilize housing.

The SPD wants to work with municipalities to activate unused building land and create building rights faster. Municipalities are to get more options to act against vacant and decaying buildings, including a stronger right of first refusal.

The SPD wants to make more building land usable. Towns should be able to grant building rights faster. They should be able to do more about empty houses. Empty business buildings should more easily become homes.

The options of the new federal Bau-Turbo (a fast-track rule for housing construction) are to be used to help municipalities activate building land. The SPD sees Erbbaurecht (long-term ground leases) as a suitable model for municipalities to create affordable housing and keep it over the long term. Vacant commercial properties are to be more easily converted into housing. The party also advocates a stronger municipal right of first refusal.

The SPD wants to make construction faster, cheaper and climate-friendly. Building standards that do not serve climate neutrality or accessibility are to be reviewed, and for climate protection a building's actual CO₂ emissions should count rather than complex technical rules.

The SPD wants building to be easier and cheaper. Some building rules should be reviewed. People should be able to file building applications online across the state. For the climate, what counts is how much CO₂ a house really causes.

The platform points to changes already made to the state building code that make conversions and serial and modular construction easier, and to Gebäudetyp E (a building class for simple, low-cost construction). The digital building application is to be introduced statewide to speed up permits. The SPD wants to keep supporting research into and use of innovative materials such as wood. For state-owned buildings, procedures are to be fast and simple; the state agency LBB is to stay attractive as an employer through competitive pay. Money from the special fund is to go into sustainable state buildings.

The SPD wants to strengthen town and city centers with a cross-disciplinary approach and look at new ideas to revive them. The state garden shows are to be developed further, and the 2029 Bundesgartenschau (federal garden show) in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley is to be secured financially.

The SPD wants city centers to stay lively. It wants to try new ideas for this. The state garden shows should continue. The state will give money for the federal garden show on the Middle Rhine in 2029.

For city centers, the SPD wants to combine tools from municipal development, mobility planning, business promotion, culture, digitalization and sustainability. New concepts are to build on the 42kaiserslautern project. An open participation process with municipalities, associations and citizens is planned for the future of the state garden shows. The 2029 federal garden show is meant to boost regional development, tourism and climate protection. The state intends to match additional federal urban development funding and pass it on to municipalities.