NewsWrap: Germany faces a housing crisis

The City of Tshwane is really concerned about how freely people seem to break laws in the area. They’ve noticed nearly 500 shacks popping up behind the Erasmia and Sunderland Bridges. Turns out, these stands are being sold for R5,000 each, and the metro has filed a case against the suspected mastermind, blaming illegal connections for costing them billions.

Moving back home Cape Town International Airport is getting a makeover, but people living nearby in places like Blikkiesdorp, Malawi Camp, and Freedom Park are kind of stuck in the middle of it all, even though they’ve signed deals with ACSA and the City for new homes. Originally, they were going to use that area to tweak the runway, which was going to cost a whopping R3.8 billion. During a transport parliamentary committee meeting with ACSA, they mentioned that the City should team up to develop Symphony Way into a mixed-use area, but when asked for comment, ACSA passed the questions along to the City’s human settlement department.

Meanwhile…

The City of Cape Town is introducing a Development Charges Fund to aid micro-developers in constructing affordable housing in lower-income communities. This fund will subsidize development charges for small-scale rental unit projects to boost the affordable housing market and attract investment in specific areas. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis aims to accelerate affordable housing development by leveraging private investment, starting with an initial R20 million fund to support qualifying micro-developers, covering up to 90% of development charges.

And finally int…

According to the latest stats Germany’s housing crisis persists, with a sharp 23.5% drop in residential building permits issued in January compared to last year. Only 16,800 apartments received permits in January, and last year saw the lowest number of building permits issued for apartments since 2012, totaling 260,100. A German construction firm, expressed concern, noting that the current lack of permits could lead to future shortages in both orders and apartments, emphasizing the need for stable funding conditions and lower interest rates to stimulate construction activity.