When you flip through the newspaper in the morning and come across real estate ads, you almost get dizzy.
The price development on the housing market is and will remain one of the biggest concerns in Luxembourg. This is certainly old news. However, being able to afford a roof over your head is becoming increasingly difficult for many young people and families. We must take action.
There is no one fits all solution that would solve all our housing problems in one go… the reasons behind the issue are unfortunately too diverse and numerous.
Rather, we need a whole series of puzzle pieces that need to be put together. And that’s what we’re doing.
Starting with supply: More affordable housing needs to be created, in particular to help lower-income households. But also the middle class, and especially the younger generations, should not be forgotten in this discussion!
This is where the new Housing Pact 2.0 comes into play – an important tool for the state and the municipalities to massively increase the supply of public, affordable and sustainable housing. With each new PAP, a certain proportion of living space automatically becomes the property of the public sector. These are plots of land on which affordable housing is being built. Supply is thereby increased.
In his State of the Nation speech, the Prime Minister also announced a reform of the property tax and the creation of a national housing register.
This is an important step in curbing speculation.
These announcements will enable us to first mobilise more building land. And secondly, to persuade the owners of undeveloped land and uninhabited housing to take responsibility and make their contribution to solving the housing problem.
The DP does not question the right to property. We are convinced, however, that in the future, people benefiting from a national housing crisis will have to become even more involved in the efforts of the public sector.
However, this is primarily aimed at big landowners and speculators, and not the people who live in their own homes. (or people who keep their land for their children and grandchildren).
Even with the building land contract – an initial idea of the DP – the municipalities will get an additional instrument to combat speculation on undeveloped land. How does it work?
With the building land contract, we make sure that new building plots or building gaps are built on within a certain period of time. If this does not happen within the prescribed time limit, the ground will be reclassified. It is, so to speak, a building site with an expiration date. Thus, the speculation with new building land is not possible.
Not to mention the new rent law, which protects tenants more strongly against increases in their rent.
Dear listeners,
The DP is aware of the housing crisis. And we will show the necessary courage and put the individual pieces of the puzzle together to tackle and solve the challenge.
Not from one day to the next, but one day after the other – today and tomorrow.
