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Housing in large cities is increasingly scarce and rents are increasing. At the same time, there are many places that are deserted and affected by relocation. Should single-family homes continue to be built in the city? In the SPIEGEL interview, Green Group leader Anton Hofreiter expressed his doubts about it, for which he is heavily criticized, especially by the CDU.
But there is certainly support among local CDU politicians for Hofreiter’s position, for example from Leipzig, the fastest growing city in Germany. “I understand Hofreiter’s opinion on the increase in urban sprawl. This is not only problematic for the environment and climate, but also for the aging of society, “said Leipzig CDU city councilor and Bundestag candidate Jessica Heller for SPIEGEL. When the road to the doctor or the supermarket more The approach gets longer and longer, that becomes a problem for many people. “Mr. Hofreiter is definitely right in his problem analysis.”
Heller went on to say: “Of course, a municipality must also be able to control what kind of living space is created and where. These possibilities already exist in many cases. “The desire to own a home remains a dream for many people and is increasingly becoming a luxury asset in a big city. “That’s why I understand the concerns associated with leadership policy,” Heller said.
Hofreiter had warned in SPIEGEL of the disadvantages of single-family developments. “One-party houses consume a lot of space, a lot of building materials, a lot of energy, they cause urban sprawl and therefore even more traffic,” said the green politician. In cities there is a “gigantic housing shortage”, in other regions home values are “plummeting”. Therefore, municipalities should use development plans to ensure that scarce space in metropolitan areas is used in the best possible way to create affordable living space.
“In rural areas we are struggling with vacancies and we are moving,” CDU district administrator Götz Ulrich, from the Burgenland district in Saxony-Anhalt told SPIEGEL. “Herr Hofreiter is absolutely right when he says that politics should also revolve between life in the city and in the country. That doesn’t seem to be completely out of control, ”says Ulrich. In the country, the incentive to own a home must remain.
Ulrich also cannot see anything scandalous in Hofreiter’s statements about possible expropriations: “This possibility is foreseen in our Basic Law with high obstacles and compensation,” said the district administrator of the CDU. “The cases described by Mr. Hofreiter are actually a problem for us here.”
When there are unclear ownership relationships and a landlord does not meet his obligations, the community often bears the costs. This happens, for example, when a house is about to deteriorate, but the owner is not ready to sell the property. “We do not want socialism here, we have had it here with very bad experiences. However, if a more rapid possibility of expropriation were created, that would make sense, ”says Ulrich.
Hofreiter had said in an interview with SPIEGEL: “I think it is correct that the community can expropriate in an emergency if the property is not clear or the heirs are in dispute and therefore a center of the village is deserted or not it can create a living space. “
Several CDU politicians had harshly attacked Hofreiter. The member of the Bundestag and President of the state of Thuringia, Christian Hirte, said that Hofreiter shows “once again, as an example of the Greens, his disturbed relationship with property and the reality of life in rural areas.”
The president of the Hamburg CDU, Christoph Ploß, said: ‘The Greens want to restrict the freedom of more and more citizens! Now they even talk quite openly about expropriations. “He was not willing to accept that and” would fight against this ideology, “said Ploß.
