A Housing Revolution: Verena Hubertz's Bold Plan for Affordable Living
Drop in construction costs anticipated significantly
Verena Hubertz, the Federal Minister of Housing, is on a mission to make housing affordable for all. In an exclusive interview with Bild am Sonntag, she shared her ambitious ideas to drastically cut construction costs.
The SPD politician has her sights set on slicing housing costs in half, and she's got some clever tricks up her sleeve. One of these is embracing serial prefabricated goods – think prefab walls cranked out in a factory – which could save builders bigtime. She estimates savings of 30 to 40 percent, slashing costs from 5,000 euros per square meter down to as low as 2,500 to 3,000 euros. And she's convinced these savings are just the beginning.
But it's not just about cheaper walls. Verena Hubertz wants to tackle soaring land costs too, aiming to slow their rise by revisiting the concept of perpetual usufruct. She's adamant that the entire cost cycle for a building needs to be scrutinized, not just a quick fix.
When asked if the target of 400,000 new apartments per year remains, Hubertz took a pragmatic approach. "We didn't write it in our coalition agreement," she said. "The world is changing rapidly, and we can't carve long-term goals in stone."
Last year, the construction industry saw around 250,000 apartments completed. Verena Hubertz called the results a disaster, but she's encouraged that building permit applications are picking up.
As for the exact methods she plans to employ, Verena Hubertz remains tight-lipped, leaving builders and consumers hungry for more details.
[Sources: ntv.de, rog/dpa]
[Verena Hubertz][Construction Industry][Housing Construction]
Enrichment Insights:- Minister Hubertz's broader strategy includes reducing construction costs and promoting a housing construction boom by streamlining approval procedures and embracing modern construction techniques.- She has hinted at the possibility of incorporating modern, efficient construction methods, such as serial prefabrication, to drive down costs.- Hubertz has also pledged to take on soaring land costs by reevaluating the concept of perpetual usufruct, a property right that facilitates the use and development of property without ownership.- The target of 400,000 new apartments per year is not a firm commitment due to the rapidly changing world scenario and unpredictable future challenges.
Community policy and employment policy are essential considerations for Minister Verena Hubertz's plan to spearhead a housing revolution, as her strategies to cut construction costs and promote housing production could create opportunities for employment in the general-news domain, primarily within the construction industry. Furthermore, the politics of housing reform will significantly impact the community policies aimed at addressing the affordable housing crisis.
