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Gebek: "Darmstadt needs apartments, not a culture of mistrust"
Darmstadt. The FDP Darmstadt strongly rejects the city's announced vacancy ordinance . "Instead of finally creating the conditions for more construction in Darmstadt, the city is relying on control and mistrust," criticizes Viola Gebek , who, together with Leif Blum, is running as the FDP Darmstadt's top candidate in the local elections. "This ordinance doesn't solve a single housing problem – it only creates additional bureaucracy."
According to the Liberals, the vacancy law planned by the black-red state government a further step towards paternalism and harassment of property owners . Instead of relying on personal responsibility, the CDU, SPD, and Greens on control, permit requirements, and high fines of up to €500,000 – thus hitting precisely those who need to renovate, modernize, or settle inheritance issues.
“The vacancy law is a massive, bureaucratic and constitutionally questionable infringement on property rights,” Gebek continued.
The FDP calls for more building permits instead of controls
The FDP also warns against overburdening the city administration: "Instead of tying up staff in monitoring and paperwork, the city should rather accelerate building permits, digitize procedures and support those wishing to build," demands Gebek.
Furthermore, the state of Hesse itself should lead by example – for instance with the state-owned properties in Marienburgstraße in Eberstadt that have been vacant for years .
The FDP sees the causes of the housing shortage in Darmstadt not in speculative vacancies, but in the high demand in the Rhine-Main region coupled with a limited supply of building land. Due to excessive building regulations and increased energy prices, larger new construction projects are often only profitable in the area of subsidized housing – for example, in the Lincoln settlement or the Ludwigshöhe district .
“Anyone who seriously wants to create affordable housing must make housing construction easier – not put owners under general suspicion,” Gebek concluded.
(DARMSTADT – Red/FDP)
