Rostock tenant day: alarming demands for more social housing!

Rostock tenant day: alarming demands for more social housing!

Rostock-Warnemünde, Deutschland - The situation on the housing market in Germany is again a hotly discussed topic. On June 27, 2025, numerous delegates gathered in Rostock-Warnemünde to discuss the alarming developments in social housing on the tenant's day of the German Tenants' Association (DMB). According to reports from NDR Since 2006, the stock has been shrunk by almost half and is currently around 1.1 million. If you look at the demand, over eleven million tenant households are entitled to a housing permit. But the lack of social housing is alarming: around 550,000 units are currently missing nationwide.

The DMB urgently warned: Around 40,000 social housing disappear from the market every year, while only around 25,000 are rebuilt. In order to counteract this grievance, the DMB calls for a doubling of the inventory to two million social housing by 2030. A total of 100,000 permanently bound social housing is to be built annually. An investment program of 12.5 billion euros annually is required to promote social housing.

background and demands

A study by the Pestel Institute reveals that state support in social living has been neglected. Report from German Tenants' Association There are currently no more than 910,000 social housing. Yes, the state expenditure on residential support exceeded the 20 billion euro brand. In contrast, expenditure on social housing in recent years has been less than 2.5 billion euros per year, which shows a clear mismatch.

Especially in the tense housing markets, such as Munich, job centers pay horrendous rental prices that are 50% above the average rent. This is not only a challenge for the tenants, but ultimately also burdens the public budget with additional costs of around 700 million euros annually. At the tenant day, the delegates demanded that the reduction or abolition of VAT should be an integral part of the solution to the new building of social housing to 7%.

joint efforts required

At the tenant day, the importance of a social quota in the allocation of social housing was also emphasized. The introduction of "living hardship commissions" in all municipalities is intended to ensure that social criteria are recognized in the allocation of apartments. A contingent of at least 10% of the newly built social housing is to be reserved for people with disabilities.

The city of Rostock has already announced that 26,000 new apartments are being created by 2035, and the discussion about a new property tax is currently being intensively conducted. These efforts are to be supported in particular by raising the minimum wage to 14.60 euros in two steps. A good hand have in the implementation of all of these measures is essential to make living space accessible to everyone again.

The mood on the tenant day was characterized by the urgent need to address the challenges. Melanie Weber-Moritz was elected as the new full-time president of the DMB, while Lukas Siebenkotten resigned after 18 years. As the discussions about future living space policy show, there is still a lot of work ahead of us.