Municipal utilities extend the commitment for affordable housing
13.06.2025 – The demand for affordable housing in Offenbach remains high. To give more people on low incomes the chance of an affordable home, GBO Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft mbH Offenbach, a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Offenbach, will extend the commitment for a further ten years for 92 apartments that would soon fall out of public subsidy.
Subsidized apartments are built as so-called social housing with public subsidies from the state. In return, the owner rents these apartments to people on lower incomes at very low rents. A valid certificate of eligibility for housing, which is issued by the local authorities, is a prerequisite for renting such an apartment. The local authority checks whether people meet the specified income limits for eligibility to move into a subsidized apartment when issuing the housing entitlement certificate.
Once this ten-year rent control period has expired, the vacant housing may be offered on the open market.
Martin Wilhelm, City Treasurer and responsible department headIt is currently particularly difficult for people on low incomes to find an affordable home. Building and land prices are rising and, as a result, so are rents for new apartments. Even with subsidies, it is currently almost impossible to build housing at a reasonable price per square meter. Therefore, in addition to new builds, the extension of price-linked housing into subsidized housing is a good way to maintain social housing.
The apartments that have now been returned to rent control were renovated ten years ago with public funds and were therefore subject to rent control. Even if the state were to once again subsidize the extension of the rent freeze, higher rents could be achieved on the open market for the apartments located throughout the city.
"Our duty as a municipal housing company of the city of Offenbach is not exclusively to optimize returns," emphasize Boris Kupke and René Weber as GBO's management. "Providing Offenbach's population with affordable housing is one of our municipal mandates. We want to maintain our proportion of subsidized apartments - currently around 2,150 out of a total portfolio of 5,000. This not only gives many people on low incomes a home. With our overall affordable housing stock, we are helping to stabilize rent levels throughout the city. All Offenbach tenants benefit from this, even if they don't live with us."