Association of cities and municipalities calls for upgrading of rural areas to combat housing shortages

In view of the housing shortage and rising rents in many cities, municipalities are calling for rural areas to be made more attractive.

“While there is a lack of living space in metropolitan areas, there are 1.9 million empty apartments in rural, often structurally weak regions,” said the managing director of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, André Berghegger, to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. More than 700,000 apartments will be ready for occupancy within the next three months.

Housing shortage needs an overall concept as a solution

There is currently a shortage of more than 800,000 apartments in Germany and new construction is stagnating at a low level, explained Berghegger. He called on the federal and state governments not only to address the problem through rent controls or housing construction offensives, but also to launch a comprehensive overall concept. “It must be possible to better connect rural areas to metropolitan areas through new transport routes, such as new or reactivated railway lines, and to make them more attractive as living spaces overall,” he said.

Good health care, accessible local amenities such as shopping, the expansion of local public transport and better cultural and leisure activities could help make structurally weak regions more attractive for people.

Funds from the special fund for infrastructure could be made available for such measures, said Berghegger. Such a sustainable conversion would be “a real contribution to equal living conditions throughout Germany.”