Erfurt's old town in danger: Apartments threaten living space!

Erfurt plant dringend neuen Wohnraum. Ferienwohnungen gefährden die Altstadt und den Wohnungsbau in den nächsten 15 Jahren.
Erfurt urgently plans new living space. Apartments endanger the old town and housing construction in the next 15 years. (Symbolbild/NAG)

Erfurt's old town in danger: Apartments threaten living space!

In the charming old town of Erfurt, it gets serious. The city will need between 3,800 and 6,900 new apartments in the next 15 years to meet the increasing demand. This reports thuringia. Lars Bredemeier, the deputy for urban development, emphasizes the need for permanent living space and warns of the negative effects of the growing number of apartments. This development could endanger the interim renovation efforts that have been supported with significant urban development funding in recent years.

A central point is the "Extended Old Town" framework plan, which aims to maintain living space, further develop and to preserve the quality of living in the city. Apartments that arise instead of rental apartments are opposed. The challenge is reinforced by the search for unauthorized holiday apartments. These illegal offers are difficult to grasp. Bredemeier reports on numerous illegal holiday apartments, which were known through citizens' information and their own research by the city administration.

The current situation

Christian Fothe from Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH supports the measures of the city and emphasizes how important a well -mixed city center is for the acceptance of tourism. "Too many apartments could question the consent of the population for tourism," he says. The city council had already commissioned the mayor in 2021 to strictly control the use of living space as a holiday apartment. However, a legal basis for these controls on the part of the Free State of Thuringia is still pending.

the nationwide context

bpb.de
live 52 % of people in Germany for rent, while rents in large cities have risen sharply since 2010. In large cities like Cologne, the average rent is EUR 13.44 per square meter. The Erfurt city administration must therefore not only manage local challenges, but also insert itself into a larger nationwide context in which the lack of living space is an urgent problem.

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OrtErfurt, Deutschland
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