Housing is a human right

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A home that makes you feel comfortable is essential to a happy life. When more and more people in Switzerland can no longer find a home, or are even evicted from their homes, it’s a social drama.

As is the case with Ida (88) and Werner (84) Scheidegger, whom Bleek reported this week: they have been living in the same old building in Zurich’s now trendy Seefeld district for 55 years. Now real estate must give way to a new building worth millions. An elderly couple has no chance of finding anything affordable in the area where they have lived their lives.

Until now, such fates have been a problem for the townspeople. There are fewer and fewer vacant apartments in the country. The rent is going up and up. And in three years, 50,000 apartments will not be enough!

Demand is growing because immigration continues – at the same time, the number of applications for construction is lower than in the last 25 years.

It’s a simple calculation: as long as more people come to Switzerland than new housing is created, the need for it will grow. And since shelter is as basic a need as food and drink, policy makers urgently need to address this emergency. Lots of recipes:

• Build tighter, higher, wider
• limit the scope for objection
• Relax from the noise and protect the cityscape
• Use of abandoned industrial buildings
• New construction of cooperative housing
• State limit on rent increase
• Fixed minimum occupancy for new buildings

These are just a few of the many ideas currently floating around. Some are more realistic, others less. But Switzerland cannot escape one thing: more must be built!

Immigration may be higher or lower, but it will not disappear. The state can intervene to a certain extent, but it will not stop the need for more space per person and will not stop the trend towards an increase in the number of single households.

Therefore, there is only one solution: the construction must pay off again!

In addition, the legal situation should be reviewed: what is wrong with the fact that cities are building taller buildings, even skyscrapers?

It is also necessary to study the rules of protection: does every protected house really have to stand forever? Is it possible to post a photo in the museum and build new apartments?

Opportunities for objection also need to be re-examined: they are an important democratic tool, but isn’t it anti-democratic if they are used only to delay significant projects for years?

Switzerland should succeed in increasing building activity. A society that cannot provide all of its members with decent housing is in danger. Because it loses an essential reason to be accepted by everyone.

Source: Blick