LR Hergovich: "What use is the best building law if nothing is built?"

2023-08-28 08:01:21

Provincial Council proposes assumption of the costs of the energy certificate by the state of Lower Austria

St. Polten (OTS) – Provincial Councilor Sven Hergovich has repeatedly called for affordable housing to be restored in recent weeks: “No matter where I go, I hear the same thing everywhere. Lower Austrians are finding it increasingly difficult to afford loan interest or rent. Life is getting more and more expensive on all levels.”

From numerous conversations, Hergovich knows that the sometimes sharply increased costs for energy, shopping, petrol, leisure time and housing are difficult for many Lower Austrians to bear. He calls for a package of measures to secure people in our state their own four walls:

An interest rate cap of 3 percent for a maximum loan amount of EUR 300,000,
the rent freeze
and an immediate resumption of subsidized housing.

He is pleased that the banks, who are still hesitant to give in, are returning more than 30 million euros to the “house builders”. “At least more than the nonsensical rule-breaking bonus of the FPÖ – the Corona Fund,” emphasizes Hergovich and calls for a solidarity of Lower Austria politics, in the interests of the Lower Austrians. “We have no shortage of ideas and concrete suggestions, we have proven that in the last few weeks,” says Provincial Councilor Hergovich, who is responsible for the very limited competence of building law. Despite everything, he does not hesitate to turn the screws that are still possible there and suggests that the state of Lower Austria assume the costs for the energy certificate in the future. That would mean savings of 500 to 1000 euros for every house builder and every home renovator. With around 20,000 new buildings or renovations, the costs would be around 15 million euros.

“What will definitely not happen with me,” emphasizes Hergovich, is saving on the safety of the equipment of a building, as Schwarz-Blau would like to see it: “That would be saving on (fire) safety for Lower Austrians. Ask a firefighter if it would be wise to lower fire safety standards? Saving in the building code would also be associated with savings in the barrier-free equipment of apartments for older people or for people with disabilities. Affordable housing is made possible through housing subsidies, not through completely wrong saving for people’s security.”

However, Sven Hergovich is slowly starting to ask himself whether the black-blue coalition wants to declare building law a dead law at all, because the halt to the allocation of housing construction funds for cooperative housing means that less and less is being built in Lower Austria. While 4,002 new apartments were approved in the first quarter of 2021, there were only 2,665 in the first quarter of 2022 and even only 2,188 in the first quarter of 2023 – i.e. a halving compared to 2021.

The Chairman of the Wienerberger Works Council, Gerhard Seban, describes how this black and blue inactivity is affecting the construction industry: “The demand for bricks has fallen massively because construction activity has fallen massively. This affects the entire construction industry, the construction supply industry and subsequently also all service providers from the installer to the bricklayer to the furniture store. High interest rates and property prices make building unaffordable. In combination with a public sector that no longer builds, this plunges the entire construction industry into a crisis. I warn against simply watching and expect immediate action: an interest rate cap, the resumption of subsidized housing and massive investments in housing by the state and federal governments are necessary to make building affordable again and to avert a serious crisis. Every employee in the state pays 0.5 percent of their salary towards housing subsidies. This money should be earmarked again and must not be used completely arbitrarily as before. I’m amazed at how unproductive politics in this country is and I have a big request: Politicians have to think outside the box again and see what’s really going on in the population,” concludes Seban.

“Without new construction, we produce unemployment instead of houses. And:
Unemployment in turn leads to higher loan defaults and even more problems,” concludes State Councilor Sven Hergovich: “Therefore, subsidized housing must be reintroduced immediately in order to help the construction industry and create affordable housing. An interest rate cap must be introduced to make property acquisition affordable again. In addition, I would also like to turn the few possible screws in building law and propose that the costs for energy certificates be taken over. Now we can see whether black and blue will continue to support the banks or whether they will join us and represent the interests of the Lower Austrian home builders.”