Housing union demands €50bn economic stimulus package in Germany

 

BERLIN – The IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IGBAU) trade union has reiterated its demand for a €50 billion ($53.3 billion) economic stimulus package for construction.

 

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Ahead of a top-level meeting with the German government to discuss housing shortages, the IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IGBAU) trade union has reiterated its demand for a €50 billion ($53.3 billion) economic stimulus package for construction.

“Economic stimulus programmes have been launched quite successfully in recent times. It is time again,” said the chairman Robert Feiger to the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

High interest rates and sharply rising costs had stalled construction in recent months he said. 

“Housing construction is in danger of going under,” Feiger said. “The government target of building 400,000 flats a year is being missed year after year. The construction figures are getting lower and lower – and that with rising population figures.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has scheduled a housing conference for Monday at the chancellery to discuss the housing shortfall and potential measures to boost construction.

The German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB) also called for action to be taken at the meeting: “Accelerate planning and approval procedures for housing construction, limit construction costs and further strengthen investments in housing construction,” association head Gerd Landsberg told the same paper.

Tax relief is needed – both for new construction and for the renovation of existing buildings, he told the same paper.