Sozialgerechte Bodennutzung, “Socially Just Land Use” in the City of Munich, Germany
The City of Munich in Germany has adopted a long-term policy for the use of land that it owns.
Description
According to its planning department, creating and securing an adequate supply of affordable housing options is a central challenge for the city’s urban development. “Socially Just Land Use” (Sozialgerechte Bodennutzung– SoBoN) provides a guidance for zoning of land, which aims to ensure an adequate number of affordable housing to meet local needs.
SoBoN determines a social use of land whereby at least 30 per cent of the considered area is reserved for social housing and 10 per cent for subsidized rental housing regardless of income level (60 per cent in the case of land held by the city). SoBoN requires developers to participate in the costs of the associated public infrastructures linked to those developments.
Actors involved
Municipality of Munich
Scale
Local
More information
Additionally, Munich focuses on developing the rental market by favouring solidarity-based concepts such as cooperative housing corporations, joint housing developments or rental syndicates when offering publicly held land. The current split of city land as the following ratio for development:
- 50 per cent social housing
- 40 per cent “Konzeptioneller Mietwohnungsbau” (conceptual rental housing)
- 10 per cent joint building ventures.
Plots to be developed as conceptual rental housing are tendered by the city. Developers must present a concept with a fixed below market level price and reduced rents (max. EUR 13.50/m2) and a focus on special low- and mid-level income groups. Conditions are then binding for 80 years.
Moreover, the city of Munich no longer sells its land; rather, it grants leaseholds in order to retain its capability to influence urban development. In the future, Munich’s land will only be granted for rental developments and not condominiums.
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