Looking for an apartment for a year: “We no longer have any requirements. We’ll take it all!”

The young mother wrinkles her nose. ‘But it’s a small kitchen. There are almost no closets,” she says softly to her husband. Her seven-year-old daughter runs excitedly from room to room, between the legs of the other three interested parties and the officer. Her footsteps echo loudly through the empty apartment. “There is also no dishwasher. I don’t know… For that price?” the mother adds. Her husband nods.

The mother’s concerns are understandable. But this is exactly what you can tell: this is the first apartment that this family has viewed in the canton of Zug. The other people who visit the apartment that afternoon no longer have any requirements for their future home. You just want to finally find one. And are on the brink of despair.

The rental price for the old building apartment in a central location in the city of Zug is 1,800 francs plus 300 francs in additional costs. It is a ten minute walk to the train station. It’s a five minute bus ride.

The apartment is 75 square meters. The old parquet has charm, the rooms are bright, the balcony is sunny with a view of the Zugerberg.

The big disadvantage: the kitchen. It is smaller than the hallway area, only five square meters. Your expansion standard: old. Four electric burners as a stove, no dishwasher, a small refrigerator, a small oven, hardly any storage space.

Yet it sounds different for an older couple than for a family. “Nice. That’s all we need,” says the woman. She is about 55 years old and walks with a limp. Her husband is also happy: “There is even a washing tower. Excellent!”

The visit only takes 15 minutes. On the way to the basement and to the garage, you walk past the front door of the block and you see the next group waiting. The broker offered apartment hunters 21 such viewing appointments. Five people could register per appointment. That makes a total of 105 interested parties who could register for this apartment.

105. The older couple also calculated this number for themselves to consider whether it was still worthwhile to travel with so much “competition”. Despair won, the two in front of the block said after the viewing. The couple has been looking for an apartment for a maximum rent of 2,400 francs for a year.

The woman is an IV recipient, the man an “all-rounder”. He works “sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes in construction or as a temporary worker for a farmer.” Wherever he is needed in the canton of Zug. Therefore, the couple depends on an apartment in a central location. In between jobs he would like to lie down at home and have something to eat. “That doesn’t work if we live in another canton.”

The two also want to stay in the canton of Zug for emotional reasons. You grew up here. Your entire environment – ​​friends, children, grandchildren – lives here. At least for now. Because as the man says:

The two lived in their 3.5-room apartment in Baar for six years. Rent: 1,700 francs. Then their management sold the block and they were given notice. The new owner wants to completely renovate and significantly increase rental prices. The couple has been desperately searching ever since. Tries everything. The woman says:

Every rejection is frustrating. Every time you invest so much time in it: make an appointment to view, then view the apartment, fill out the application forms, write an application letter. So much effort for nothing. Again and again.

Nevertheless, the couple will submit an application for the apartment viewed today. There is no hope for a positive decision. “Sometimes I feel like foreigners get preferential treatment!” the man shouts. His face turns red at these words and his eyes become watery. Tears of despair. Of anger. But to whom? In the search for a scapegoat, ‘foreigners’ have to wait.

The fact that newcomers from abroad are driving up house prices in the canton of Zug is part of the truth. But not the whole thing. You can read more about this in the first part of this series:

This afternoon the opposite statement is also circulating: “We have no chance anyway with our foreign surnames.” It’s a young couple saying this. Also on a desperate search. For an affordable apartment and the reason why it doesn’t work despite good, safe jobs.

She is Canadian and works as a psychologist. He works in marketing and grew up in Switzerland. However, his last name ends in “-ic”. He doesn’t want to say more.

The two wanted to move from the canton of Vaud to the canton of Zug for their work. As a temporary solution, they stayed with his mother. This ‘interim solution’ has now lasted six months. This puts increasing pressure on the mother’s relationship with her son and future daughter-in-law.

The couple would actually like to get married, plan their family and shape their future together. “But what about without an apartment?” says the fiancée. They even postponed their wedding – originally planned for December 2023 – due to the lack of an apartment. Indefinitely. “Going back to your mother-in-law’s apartment after the wedding? Is this how we should spend our wedding night? Start our lives together? No,” says the fiancée and shakes her head.

The two are allowed to spend a maximum of 2,500 francs on rent, so that their family planning still works. Your housing needs have decreased with each rejected application. The fiancee says:

They don’t know yet whether they will register for today’s apartment. “With so many interested parties, we certainly have no chance,” he says. Then the two have to leave. While walking, they are already talking about the next viewing appointment, which is scheduled for this week.

This afternoon, a wide variety of people are making a pilgrimage to the R2,100 rental apartment for various reasons. One story is more depressing than the other. What remains especially memorable is what a single mother says.

Eight months ago she separated from her partner – the father of her two-year-old daughter. Since then, she and her child have been staying with her parents in a 4.5-room apartment in Baar. That too: a temporary solution.

She works in nursing in the city of Zug. That’s why she trusts her parents to take care of her daughter during their irregular shifts. Otherwise it wouldn’t work. The rent of 2,100 francs per month is actually 100 francs above their budget. Laughing she says:

Gallows humor. There are no cheaper homes in the area anyway.

As a nurse, just getting a viewing appointment is a challenge. “You actually have to make a viewing appointment when the advertisement goes online. But how am I supposed to do that while I’m working?” Her life consists only of stress: there is a shortage of nursing staff at work, there is a housing shortage on the housing market and at home her daughter and parents are waiting with demands, wishes and demands. .

With a bitter smile she adds:

Then she looks at the clock. She has to go. Today she is on night shift. In the break room, she wants to fill out the apartment application form – asking if she can take a break today – and drop the envelope off the next morning after her shift. Then she will hope. ‘I have no other choice. At some point it has to work for me too.”