Hubertz's "Bu-Turbo" project facing halt
Wanna build housing? Sure, who doesn't! But when it comes to action, local authorities often show little enthusiasm for new housing projects. Minister Hubertz can't force municipalities to use the "Bau-Turbo".
Introduced by the federal government as a potent "tool" to slash planning and approval times for residential construction projects, the "Bau-Turbo" could potentially reduce construction timelines from years to mere months. However, whether local authorities will take advantage of this opportunity is far from guaranteed. Hubertz has no leverage to compel municipalities to adopt the "Bau-Turbo".
Key Program Kickoff Hubertz: "Time to change the mood, diggers move!"Experience suggests that municipalities may not jumpstart their much-needed housing construction effort, even if intricate planning procedures, inadequate building plots, and escalating costs were eliminated.
The "Bau-Turbo" is an ideal solution for municipalities with a pressing need for new apartments, eager to spearhead mass housing development, possess suitable areas, but have been hampered by excessively complex planning processes. Sadly, such municipalities are rather rare in Germany. Instead, property developers in residential construction encounter municipalities with potentially suitable building land that show no interest at all.
Growing Economy The German Housing Shortage: A Closer Look at the "Bau-Turbo"
Most municipalities don't even take advantage of the freedom they already have to facilitate new construction. Real estate developers and builders repeatedly lament that obstacles are placed in their way, particularly for large-scale, urgently-needed multi-family housing. This often occurs in suburban areas of metropolitan regions with critical housing scarcity, where new construction is feasible and desirable.
- German Federal Government for Urban Development and Building
- Hubertz, Minister for Housing
- Housing Construction and Development
- Planning and Approval Processes
Enrichment Insights:To trigger federalism reform that would bolster Hubertz's "Bau-Turbo" influence in boosting municipal residential construction, several key steps and considerations are paramount:
- Rebalancing Federal-Municipal Powers and Incentives With the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) defining a federal system of power-sharing between federal and state (Länder) governments and municipalities, reform could focus on readjusting the assignment of competences or incentives related to urban development. This could involve increasing the federal government's or state's authority or weapons to influence municipal building policies, particularly for residential construction.
- Utilizing Property Tax Reforms Recent adjustments to Germany's property tax (Grundsteuer), which updated property valuations and equipped cities to increase assessment rates on undeveloped plots to deter land speculation, offer a helpful model. Amplifying or adapting such fiscal incentives could have significant potential. For instance, municipalities could be granted increased power or incentives through redefined tax regulations to speed up residential development, penalizing land hoarding or underutilization more effectively.
- Federal or State Funding with Conditions Successful public subsidy practices in other sectors, such as rural broadband infrastructure deployment, serve as a guide. Federal or state aid might be directed towards municipalities on the condition that they meet residential construction targets or implement "Bau-Turbo" principles. Intelligently engineered state aid has demonstrated its capacity to advance outcomes beneficial to public policy without distorting competition. This model could be tailored for residential construction.
- Legal and Regulatory Changes Change would require legislative amendments at the federal level as well as possibly in state laws governing land use, building codes, and municipal planning autonomy. This could involve:
- Crafting federal standards for residential construction objectives.
- Revising municipal planning procedures to expedite approvals (the "Bau-Turbo" concept).
- Strengthening federal oversight or aid in municipalities that are slow to develop housing.
- Political Collaboration and Consensus Building Due to Germany's federal structure, initiating reform necessitates political consensus among federal, state, and municipal levels. Engaging all stakeholders – including the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, which oversees federalism and community policy – and aligning objectives on housing needs could pave the way for reform.
In essence, federalism reform to empower "Bau-Turbo" likely demands a mix of fiscal incentives (e.g., property tax changes), conditional federal subsidies, legal adjustments to municipal planning autonomy, and political harmony across government levels. Adapting recent property tax reforms and public subsidy experiences could inform the design, amplifying leverage on municipalities for residential housing construction.
- The German Federal Government for Urban Development and Building, under the leadership of Minister Hubertz, may consider implementing reforms to bolster the influence of the "Bau-Turbo" in boosting municipal residential construction.
- To trigger such reform, the government could reconsider federal-municipal power-sharing, update property tax regulations, offer conditional federal or state funding, propose legal and regulatory changes, and build political consensus across government levels, all with the goal of advancing mass housing development and reducing housing shortage.
