Promoting residential construction
In Frankfurt, there is great demand for affordable housing. For this reason, each year, the City of Frankfurt budget sets aside financing to enable affordable housing to be built that meets contemporary technical standards. There is a rental cap on these apartments just as their occupancy is pre-defined and they differ essentially in terms of upper income levels, entry-level rents, and the volume of subsidization. These regulations tend to run for 30 or 40 years. Longer regulations can be agreed. Two financing channels exist, each with various stages:
- On the basis of the State of Hessen Act to Promote New Residential Properties (HWoFG) and the State of Hessen Guidelines on Promoting Social Welfare Rental Apartments according to the “Frankfurt Program for the Construction of Affordable Rental Accommodation: Subsidy Channel 1” interest-free construction loans and grants can be provided to create rental apartments in tenement blocks for low-income households.
- For new construction of housing for middle-income households, the City of Frankfurt likewise awards interest-free construction loans and grants according to the “Frankfurt Program for the Construction of Affordable Rental Accommodation: Subsidy Channel 2“.
The City of Frankfurt runs other programs to promote:
- building of student accommodation for students at tertiary education institutions in Frankfurt in the form of the “Frankfurt Program to Promote Accommodation for Students and Trainees”;
- young people being able to acquire housing. There is a special owner-occupied new-built housing program in this context in the form of the “Frankfurt Program to Promote New Housing for Owner-Occupied Dwellings” – as well as one for the purchase of existing housing, the “Frankfurt Program to Promote Housing in Existing Owner-Occupied Dwellings”;
- the development of the housing stock in the form of the “Frankfurt Program to Modernize Existing Housing”;
- to upgrade the urban design of buildings and areas with vacant ground-floor areas in the form of the “Frankfurt Program Promoting the Conversion of Vacant Premises for Creatives”.