Would you voluntarily move into a smaller apartment?

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cgWkHT”>

Vacancies are falling, rental costs are rising: The situation in the rental housing market is more tense than ever before. The belief that problems will be resolved “on their own”, that is, as a result of normal market developments, is disappearing.

That’s why Federal Council Member and Minister of Economy Guy Parmelin (63) invites you to a “round table” on the housing shortage on Friday. Representatives of the Swiss Tenants Association (MV) are also sitting there with a claim document.

“Express Claims”

It includes new “explicit requirements” as well as well-known structural requirements. Including “Limiting living space consumption by occupancy features”. So the tenants association wants to stipulate how many people should live in an apartment of a certain size.

MV Secretary General Linda Rosenkranz (43) says: “This advice will not result in any changes to existing leases, it will only be used when renting flats in new buildings.” It will be about “optimal occupation” of newly appointed apartments and not about a massive redistribution of living space.

Cooperatives and city homeowners already know the occupancy criteria. The rule of thumb is: the number of residents plus 1 corresponds to the maximum number of rooms. Therefore, a single person should occupy no more than one two-room apartment. A couple must occupy a 3-room apartment.

The tenants’ association has deliberately not included this net calculation formula in the demand catalogue. A clearly defined formula, how many people have how many rooms and how much living space will be “correct” is not part of the roundtable demands, contrary to media reports.

According to Rosencrantz, this is more of a recommendation: “It’s about creating a basis for discussion. All of our proposals are based on the results of a survey conducted by the Federal Housing Office. He understands that some requests are perceived as radical, but he disagrees: “Because our core demands have been debated for years, We have formulated clear demands that can be quickly implemented in the democratic process.”

Lots of living space for few people

The demand for habitat restrictions initially came from the ranks of the Greens. This is because the Swiss population needs more and more living space per capita. The basic rule of +1 number of residents is clearly overlooked today.

Rosenkranz notes that a few additional measures must be taken in order for the demand to materialize: “Many older people have been living in large, inexpensive apartments for decades and are quite willing to move to smaller apartments, but cannot find a suitable apartment here for the same price » That’s why MV has rented out tenants’ apartments. requests that they can be exchanged with each other within the framework of the same contract terms.

There are other demands in the MV document, which is actually a position paper on a survey by the Federal Housing Office (BWO): For example, regular monitoring of rents and returns, at least 50 percent share of nonprofits housing in new buildings, and above all one urgent Stop attacks on tenancy law. BWO also handles sensitive issues such as immigration. Here the MV says: As long as there is free movement of people, the state has to ensure that there is enough infrastructure for everyone.

Positions far apart

The representatives at Parmelin’s roundtable are as heterogeneous as the composition of the Federal Commission on Housing Issues. The positions of MV and building associations are sometimes as far apart as those of political parties, but not in all cases. It will be interesting to see if measures are taken quickly to alleviate the housing shortage.

Source :Blick