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On May 22, 2024, the City of Darmstadt announced that the index-linked rent index had resulted in a 12.25% increase in rents. This underscores once again the importance of creating housing in areas such as Lincoln, Ludwigshöhe, and Messplatz to counteract high demand and rising rents.
The responses of Darmstadt's mayor to this challenge have been met with incomprehension by the Green Party. "The mayor repeatedly speaks of a healthy level of growth without offering a single concrete proposal on how a reduction in supply can counteract rising rents. Responsible politics doesn't serve up nice-sounding platitudes that only have the opposite effect, but rather provides answers and presents concepts," said party spokesperson Heiko Depner.
The assertion that a solution can only be achieved with the Darmstadt-Dieburg district is therefore once again perplexing. The party is observing with concern the district's planned withdrawal from Stradadi GmbH, which is actually intended to advance the expansion of the tram connection between the city and the district, thereby making living in the district more attractive. The neighboring municipality is also lagging behind in subsidized housing construction. With a rate of 6.3% subsidized housing in its existing stock, Darmstadt leads the way in Hesse, while the district can only boast 1.8%. "The city of Darmstadt assumes a large share of the responsibilities for social services, both in social housing and public transport. We sincerely hope that the SPD, the city and district, and the mayor of Darmstadt will finally commit to constructive cooperation that fairly distributes the burden, and that it doesn't remain mere lip service," said Hildegard Förster-Heldmann, member of the state parliament and party spokesperson.
To add more substance to the politically driven debate on growth, the Darmstadt Green Party has launched an initiative to engage in dialogue with experts across party lines. In mid-May, the Greens sent an inquiry to all democratic parties, which is currently underway. The next step involves scheduling a meeting to jointly agree on the format of the discussion.
