A good and secure home - Degewo

A city worth living in
A good and secure home
Social housing policy and
affordable rent

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© SenStadtUm
Dear Berliners,
Berlin is becoming ever more interesting in its role as the German
capital and as a prime location for culture, education,
science and research. People from all over the world visit our
city as tourists, stop here for a longer sojourn or decide to
stay here permanently. This is a great enrichment for our city
life. It creates jobs, strengthens our future prospects and allows
our city to grow.
However, these manifold opportunities are accompanied by
certain side effects, primarily affecting the housing and real
estate market. Growth makes prices rise. Rents in our city are
still far from those charged in other German cities or European
metropolises. Yet still the currently occurring price increases,
to be observed with rental contracts for new property
in particular, are a cause for concern. They cause a
decrease in the supply of inexpensive rental dwellings, upon
which those households in particular are dependent which
due to their personal or family situation cannot currently
profit from the opportunities offered by our city’s growth.
These rent increases limit the choice for “starting households“
which are still in a phase of education, career entry or
starting a family.

As far as counteracting rent increases is concerned, the options
available to the State of Berlin are limited. Conditions in
the housing sector are determined by private decisions made
in the financial and real estate markets. Rent, tax and zoning
law is predominantly federal law. Countermeasures such as
financially effective public investments, subsidies or transfer
payments are restricted by Berlin’s still very difficult budgetary
situation.
We are not, however, completely without influence on housing
and rent policy. The instruments of urban planning and
building permission legislation allow us to determine what
may be built where and how. Providing state-owned plots of
land for building supports housing construction, and our tenancy
law initiative in the Bundesrat makes proposals in defence
of tenants’ interests.
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Our most important partners in housing policy are the municipal
housing societies, which today manage around 17
percent of Berlin’s rental housing. For this reason, the Senate
of Berlin has formed an “Alliance for Social Housing Policy
and Affordable Rent“ with the municipal housing societies.
With this brochure, I would like to inform you about the most
important goals and topics of this alliance.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Müller
Senator for Urban Development and the Environment

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Alliance for Berlin
© Verband Berlin-Brandenburgischer Wohnungsunternehmen e.V. (BBU)
In order to combat the increasingly narrow market for affordable
living space, the Senate Department for Urban
Development and the Environment and the Senate Department
of Finance have agreed to form the “Alliance for Social
Housing Policy and Affordable Rent“ with the six municipal
housing societies of Berlin. The Alliance was signed
on 4 September 2012, is valid initially until 2016, and specifies
solutions and measures with which the partners will
ensure the availability of affordable housing.
Berlin is growing, rents are increasing
Especially in the sought-after inner-city areas, the demand
for rental accommodation is growing faster than the supply.
For this reason, the housing market surplus is dwindling ever
more, and rents are rising faster than in the past decade –
especially in new buildings, but increasingly also in the existing
building stock. The main reasons: our city is growing. Ever
more people are moving to Berlin. At the same time, more
and more Berliners are living alone. Already today, 54 percent
of all Berlin households are single-person households.

Senator Michael Müller (Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment)
and member of the board of directors Maren Kern (Verband Berlin-Brandenburgischer
Wohnungsunternehmen e.V., Federation of housing companies and cooperatives
in Berlin and Brandenburg) at the signing of the Rent Alliance with the board
members and managements of the six municipal housing societies Hendrik Jellema
(GEWOBAG), Stefanie Frensch (HOWOGE), Jörg Franzen (GESOBAU), Lars Ernst (WBM),
Frank Bielka (degewo) and Ingo Malter (STADT UND LAND)
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Strong partners take countermeasures
The goal of the housing policy of the
Berlin Senate is to keep rents in our
growing city affordable and to provide
adequate living space for households
whose income falls behind the general
income trend. The diversity and character
of individual neighbourhoods must
be preserved. The typical “Berlin mixture“
should be strengthened so that
people with different income levels, of
different social and cultural backgrounds,
continue to live together in our
residential quarters.
Senatsverwaltung
für Stadtentwicklung
und Umwelt
Senatsverwaltung
für Finanzen
Berlin’s municipal housing societies are
core partners in implementing this urban
development and housing policy.
They create considerable benefits for
our city by
• consequently helping to curb rent
prices through their own rent price
policies,
• playing a leading role in refurbishing
buildings for energy efficiency and
climate protection,
• adapting their building stock to the
requirements imposed by demographic
change, and
• actively supporting social, demographic
and cultural integration in
Berlin’s residential neighbourhoods.

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© GESOBAU © GEWOBAG
More flats
The housing stock of the municipal societies is to grow,
through purchase and new construction: from 277,000 dwellings
at present to 300,000 in 2016. A larger proportion of
publicly owned dwellings will help to stabilise the rent market.
In future, plots of land belonging to the State of Berlin will be
allocated directly to the municipal housing societies, provided
this leads to expedient building plot realignments suitable
for new construction in fulfilment of the goals of the Rent
Alliance.
In a pilot project, the State of Berlin will provide 14 plots upon
which the municipal housing societies may carry out exemplary
development projects. Through the following requirements,
care will be taken to ensure that each of these projects
leads to the creation of a neighbourhood that fits into its surrounding
residential area in a socially appropriate manner:
• rent spreads,
• proportional allocation of flats to households with a certificate
of eligibility to public housing (“Wohnberechtigungsschein”),
• a contingent of small flats for single-person households,
• a contingent of barrier-free flats, and
• flats for families with children.

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© HOWOGE
© degewo
Current examples of such projects are the construction of
280 flats by degewo in Adlershof and Köpenick, the construction
of approximately 350 flats by HOWOGE in Lichtenberg
and the construction of approximately 270 flats by GESOBAU
in Pankow.
Housing stock expansion through acquisition
Where measures to ease the housing market are advisable
and suitable offers available, the municipal housing societies
will acquire such residential property as expediently complements
their existing stock. There are current examples of
such measures as well: degewo and GESOBAU have purchased
just under 4,700 flats together; STADT UND LAND has
expanded its stock by 340 flats. GEWOBAG has acquired 2,100
flats, while HOWOGE has added around 1,500 flats to its
stock.
Student housing
To improve the student housing situation, municipal housing
societies are cooperating with the Berlin student services
(Studentenwerk Berlin) and the departments for social issues
of the students’ councils of the Berlin universities.

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The most important key points of the Rent Alliance
To provide for broad sections of the population, the municipal
housing societies offer living space at affordable rents.
They strive to keep their rent levels bearable following refurbishment
and when concluding new contracts, as well.
Lower-income households in particular should be able to find
good and secure housing with the municipal housing societies.
For this reason, in the Rent Alliance, the municipal housing
societies have committed themselves to a discerning rent
policy.
• They limit their general rent increases in privately-funded
housing to a maximum of 15 percent within four years, in
so far as permitted by the Berlin rent index (Berliner Mietspiegel).
• The municipal housing societies limit building modernisation
contributions in privately-funded housing to a maximum
of nine percent of expenses incurred per year. Rents
should still be affordable after modernisation measures
have been carried out.
• In the case of first-time rental contracts, the housing societies
will rent every second flat within the S-Bahn ring and
every third flat outside it for the local reference rent
(“ortsübliche Vergleichsmiete”) to households which have
a certificate of eligibility to public housing (“Wohnberechtigungsschein”
or “WBS”).
• A joint pool of flats will make fair flat exchanges possible
should a tenant require a flat at least 10 percent smaller
than the one presently let. In the case of an exchange, the
housing societies guarantee that the new gross warm rent
(“Bruttowarmmiete“ – includes net rent and all further
unavoidable costs such as heating, street cleaning, etc.)

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will be less than the old one – all other factors such as location,
furnishing, and state of modernisation being equal.
• An individual solution will be sought for tenants who are
unable, for financial or other social reasons, to bear a given
rent increase.
• Following a rent increase for a tenant household to which
social criteria apply, the net cold rent (“Nettokaltmiete”)
should not exceed 30 percent of the household’s net income,
provided the number of household members is appropriate
for the flat size and the household’s income is
within the limits defined by the Federal Republic of Germany
for receiving a certificate of eligibility to public
housing (“Wohnberechtigungsschein”). Appropriate flat
sizes and the calculation of net household income are defined
in this brochure from page 10 onward.
• If a tenant household receives social security benefits and
its flat size is appropriate (see appropriate flat size table
from page 10 onward), rent increases will be limited to ensure
that the new rent does not exceed the maximum
government-provided rent benefits.
• Hardship provisions for pregnant women and single parents
who are dependent on their social environment, for
senior citizens, for handicapped people, for caregivers and
for sick or bereaved people ensure that other private hardships
besides income issues can be taken into consideration
in determining the extent of rent increases.
• These individual solutions are also effective for those cases
of social housing in which rent increases are due to the
scheduled reduction of public funding.

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When is a rent increase limitation possible?
What constitutes appropriate flat size for this purpose?
How is net household income calculated?
As part of their contribution to the Rent Alliance, when implementing
rent increases, the municipal housing societies have
committed themselves to limiting the net cold rent (“Nettokaltmiete”)
to no more than 30 percent of the tenant
household’s net income, provided the household in question
lives in a flat of appropriate size and the household’s income
does not exceed the limits set forth uniformly for the Federal
Republic of Germany in the federal housing promotion act
(Wohnraumförderungsgesetz, WoFG).
Appropriate flat sizes according to size of household
Single-person household: no more than 45 m²
Two-person household: no more than 60 m²
Three-person household: no more than 75 m²
Four-person household: no more than 85 m²
Each further household member:
an additional maximum of 12 m²
In cases where the flat is larger than the permitted limit for
the size of the household, no rent limitation is possible.
Income limits
For the intents and purposes of determining the application
of rent limitation, household income is the total income of a
household as calculated according to sections 20-24 of the
federal housing promotion act (Wohnraumförderungsgesetz,
WoFG). In WoFG section 9, the income limit (net income per
year) is determined to be
for a single-person household
12,000.00 Euro
for a two-person household
18,000.00 Euro
additionally for each further
household member
4,100.00 Euro
For each child,
the limit is raised by
500.00 Euro

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Calculation of net household income
Household income is calculated strictly according to sections
20-24 of the federal housing promotion act (Wohnraumförderungsgesetz,
WoFG). The exact wording of this law can
be found (in German) on the website of the Senate Department
for Urban Development and the Environment (www.
stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/service/gesetzestexte/de/
wohnen.shtml). The first step is to determine the yearly income
of all household members at the time of the rent increase.
The components of yearly income are defined in sections
21 and 22 of the housing promotion act.
From this yearly income, a blanket sum of 10 percent is deducted
for taxes owed on income and compulsory contributions
to health, long-term care and state pension insurance
(WoFG section 23), provided household members are liable to
taxation. In the case of persons with a severe disability,
young married couples (up to the fifth calendar year following
marriage for spouses who are not older than 40), children
and persons with a maintenance obligation regulated by law,
further deductions are made (details in WoFG section 24).
If the net household income calculated in this way is not
higher than the income limit given in the table above (taken
from WoFG section 9 paragraph 2) and if the rent increase
will result in a net cold rent which is higher than 30 percent
of the net household income, then the household can probably
claim a rent increase reduction. For an exact calculation
of their income and to provide proof of their status, households
wishing to make use of this agreement should contact
their municipal housing society landlord.
There is, however, no legal entitlement to these benefits.

Senate Department for Urban Development and
the Environment
Section IV - Housing, Urban Renewal, Socially Integrative
City
Württembergische Straße 6
10707 Berlin
Exhibition and Information Centre of the Senate
Department for Urban Development and the Environment
Am Köllnischen Park 3, 10179 Berlin
U-Bahn lines U2, Märkisches Museum, U8, Jannowitzbrücke
or Heinrich-Heine-Straße
S-Bahn lines S5, S7, S75, Jannowitzbrücke
Bus lines 147, 248, 265, U-Bhf. Märkisches Museum
Exhibition room of the Senate
Department for Urban Development and the Environment
Württembergische Straße 6, 10707 Berlin
U-Bahn lines U3, U7, Fehrbelliner Platz
Bus lines 101, 104, 115, Fehrbelliner Platz
www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de
Titelbild: © Nikolaus Fürcho
Kommunikation
Am Köllnischen Park 3, 10179 Berlin
broschuerenstelle@senstadtum.berlin.de