© acatech

One publication is aimed at local authorities and local authority organisations. As key players in the housing market, they face the challenge of ensuring affordability whilst at the same time giving due consideration to environmental sustainability and a high standard of living. Specifically, it is aimed at individuals in local government and municipal housing organisations who are shaping active and forward-looking land and housing policies, as well as associations, chambers and civil society organisations that are relevant stakeholders in the political processes underlying these decisions.

Figures highlight the urgency

There is a shortage of housing, particularly in urban areas, especially for low- and middle-income households. According to current estimates, there is a shortfall of around 1.4 million homes nationwide, around 420,000 of which are in the ten largest cities. At the same time, calculations by experts reveal the untapped potential within the existing housing stock: simply by adding storeys to office buildings, retail premises and car parks, up to 1.7 million additional homes could be created.1 A further 60,000 homes could be created if vacant office space were converted.

The acatech IMPULS ‘More affordable housing in the existing housing stock – options for action for local authorities and municipal institutions’ shows how local authorities can harness this potential. The proposals drawn up by our project members are based on approaches that have already proved their worth in local government practice. The experts have reorganised existing tools, linked them with other ideas and further developed them with a practical focus.

An overview of the topics and options for action:

• Strengthening and further developing leasehold rights:
  Establish leasehold rights as a regulatory instrument / Use ground rent as a control mechanism / Simplify, standardise and make leasehold agreements more flexible / Communicate the strategic added value of leasehold rights
• Municipal neighbourhood development through concept awards:
  Design concept awards to be legally sound, flexible and accessible / Strengthen public transparency and actively communicate concept awards / Offer support services for smaller or new stakeholders / Strengthen stakeholders committed to the public good
• Cadastral-based mapping and activation of housing potential:
  Targeted activation of housing potential – through digital registers of vacant properties, repurposed properties, vacant building plots and infill development, as well as owner management
• Optimising project management within the municipal housing stock:
  Establish a preliminary project phase with an in-depth analysis of the housing stock/ Align public procurement law, cooperation requirements and funding criteria with the specific characteristics of the housing stock/ Integrate stock-specific expertise into procurement and project management/ Utilise digital tools
• Cross-departmental collaboration:
  Network administrative departments / Consolidate data / Coordinate funding and standards
• Qualification for integrated planning:
  Develop skills / Promote exchange and provide long-term support for training programmes
• Strengthening inter-municipal cooperation:
  Joint housing funds, funding programmes and housing construction

The options for action presented here offer a selection of tools with which local authorities can help to increase the supply of affordable housing within the existing building stock. However, whether more affordable housing is created within the existing stock is not determined by individual measures alone. What is crucial is the local authority’s own understanding of its role: it is more than just an administrator and licensing body; it owns land, should plan and regulate, actively shape the housing market and, in doing so, act in accordance with social policy – through a strategic land-use policy, new partnerships and planning processes based on equality.

The publication is available in short and long versions via this link. The authors outline both the obstacles and challenges as well as specific options for action. In the long version, the proposed solutions are supplemented by concrete implementation strategies.

In parallel, the acatech IMPULS “More affordable housing within the existing stock – options for action for the federal and state governments” has also been published in both a long and a short version.

1 Own calculations by the Institute for Housing, Real Estate, Urban and Regional Development (InWIS) based on Technical University of Darmstadt/Pestel Institute 2019. 
² “Working from home and the future of offices: flexibility, reduction and potential for repurposing”, ifo Institute study, 2024