Living over supermarkets: a key to the housing shortage in the Havelland!

Living over supermarkets: a key to the housing shortage in the Havelland!

Falkensee, Deutschland - You can say that this is a creative solution that comes from Berlin! Federal Minister of Construction Verena Hubertz (SPD) has submitted a proposal that is supposed to tackle the lack of housing in Germany: to overbid supermarkets with living space. The goal? Create more affordable living space and at the same time better use the existing areas. The Federal Government plans faster approval procedures and the cancellation of some development plans to speed up this process. These new regulations should not only benefit the citizens and the construction industry, but also relieve municipal authorities. However, it remains a decision for the municipalities whether they want to use these offers to advance housing construction. According to maz-online.de Hubertz has particularly densified building in Focus.

However, the idea not only finds open ears. Alexander Vujanov, market manager of an Edeka market in Falkensee, is skeptical about the development. The construction's height specifications often make it difficult to find creative solutions here. Edeka Minden-Hannover also emphasizes that not every supermarket is suitable for such an increase, since the structural substance is decisive. In several commercial areas in which there are supermarkets, the suitability for living space could also be restricted.

an urgent problem: lack of living space

The situation is similar everywhere. There is an acute lack of living space, which is further folded down by high immigration numbers and rising property prices. According to a study, a good 550,000 apartments are currently missing in Germany. According to Federal Center Politics, around 52 percent of Germans lived in 2023. In large cities such as Cologne, rents are particularly high: the tenants pay an average of EUR 13.44 per square meter. And the tendency remains rising, which makes the discussion about affordable living space all the more urgent.

The corona crisis has not contributed to driving Cologne and other city dwellers into rural regions. The attraction of the big cities remains unbroken, which tightens the shortage of surface. The question remains: How can you counter the housing shortage? Not only supermarkets, but also other existing infrastructures could be retained. [Süddeutsche.de] (https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kolumne/wohnungen-ueber-supermarkt- afternoon deficiency-1.5525438) calls retail space here: an increase could enable up to 400,000 new apartments. However, the statics of the existing buildings are often a problem that makes it difficult to build up living space or even make a demolition.

The challenges of densification

Even if the legal framework is given, implementation remains a challenge. Soundal protection aspects, for example, because of the delivery noise, are also not to be neglected. Many building applications must therefore contain noise protection reports. Tenants and owner size of the areas that are available for such projects play an important role, as both süddeutsche.de maz-online.de. Missing development plans can significantly limit the densification. Here is tact asked, both on the part of the real estate investors and the retailers who have to think more vertically and integrate mixed forms into new projects.

The lack of living space will remain a big topic in Germany in the coming years. By 2025, 372,000 new apartments annually will be estimated, but in 2023 only 294,400 new living rooms were created. The deficit is obvious and the implementation of innovative solutions is urgently necessary. It is to be hoped that initiatives such as those of Hubertz and the new regulations in the building code pave the way for faster and more efficient construction processes.