(Correction: wrong number in the eighth paragraph, penultimate sentence: billion instead of million when capping the subsidy.)
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Thousands of private builders and companies can now count on money for their energy-efficient houses after the sudden halt to KfW funding. Applications made before the emergency brake on January 24th will still be processed according to the old criteria. The federal government agreed on this on Tuesday. After that there should be a clear cut. This means that those house builders who wanted to submit an application for funding for a so-called Efficiency House 55 in the last week of January will get nothing. For other construction projects, however, there should be new programs.
The federal government had prematurely terminated the previous funding program for the renovation and new construction of energy-efficient houses because there were far too many applications. Instead of after January 31st, no more applications could be submitted on January 24th. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) spoke of an emergency brake on Tuesday.
It “really hurts” him with the decision to have caused so much disappointment among house builders, said Habeck. “The demolition was not a political highlight, you have to admit that.” Nevertheless, it was mandatory and necessary, otherwise the program would have reached a volume of 14 billion euros. He did not get this money.
The money was no longer sufficient for the around 24,000 applications that had been submitted but not yet approved by the end of the funding period on January 24th. Applications with a volume of 7.2 billion euros were still pending at the time. According to the government, only 1.8 billion euros were available in the budget.
The federal government is now taking on an additional 5.4 billion euros for the applications that have already been submitted. The money is to come from the energy and climate fund – and is therefore no longer available for other climate protection investments. After all, the reduction saves between seven and ten billion euros for applications that have not yet been submitted, said Habeck. In addition, the fund is currently well filled: Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has transferred 60 billion euros in credit authorizations that were not used to fight corona last year.
After the abrupt halt to subsidies, many families feared that they would not be able to finance their property. Large sums are involved: In the case of a so-called Efficiency House 55, state aid could previously amount to up to 18,000 euros per residential unit. The different numbers in the standards indicate how energy efficient a building is. EH55 means that a building only uses 55 percent of the energy that a standard house needs.
According to Habeck, the funding for precisely these houses is now finally over. Efficiency houses 55 are now part of the building standard. Promoting them in particular provides hardly any incentives for more climate protection, according to the argument of the federal government.
Instead, a new funding program is to be set up: According to Habeck, this includes renovations and new buildings with the EH40 standard. However, there will only be reduced funding for these even more efficient buildings, he said. In addition, the program should only run until the end of the year and be capped at one billion euros. In this way, the federal government wants to prevent another application storm shortly before the end of the year.
“Future programs will be geared more towards the efficient use of funds and will focus on projects that do not already meet normal building standards,” emphasized Finance Minister Lindner. A completely new funding program for climate-friendly construction is to be set up for 2023. Construction Minister Klara Geywitz explained: “The upward trend in construction will continue and we will continue to support it with clever, climate-oriented programs.”
According to calculations by the Main Association of the German Construction Industry for the “Bild”, new buildings in the EH55 standard could become around ten percent more expensive without the subsidy. Theoretically, the cold rents of houses for which the allowance has been removed could be higher by an average of 1.50 euros per square meter.
The central association of the housing industry called for a short-term solution, especially for social housing. “Here, a subsidy equalization at least at the level of the EH55 program is absolutely necessary,” said President Axel Gedaschko. In addition, the conditions for the EH40 program and the refurbishment subsidy should not be worsened if they were to ensure climate-friendly construction.
The Union criticized that the federal government stopped halfway with its compromise. “Many home builders and companies had relied on being able to submit applications on the basis of the applicable funding conditions by January 31, 2022,” emphasized MP Jan-Marco Luczak. The traffic light does not offer any solution for this./tam/DP/stk