BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The federal government has privatized thousands of apartments from its property in recent years. The Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks (BImA) alone gave away around 5600 apartments to private individuals and companies from 2013 to the end of 2022, according to a response from the federal government to a small question from the left-wing parliamentary group. During this period, the Federal Agency sold just under 6600 apartments to states and municipalities.

In addition, the BImA sold almost 13,200 plots of land - three out of four went to private buyers. The Federal Agency made more than 3.3 billion euros on the sales in the period in question.

In addition, there were sales by other federal agencies such as the Bundeseisenbahnvermögen (BEV), which among other things manages the so-called railroad housing. Since 2012, the BEV has reduced its stock by more than half to just around 2,000 apartments. As the federal government's response shows, BEV has actually sold more than 135,000 apartments since the 1994 rail reform.

"The federal government's real estate policy remains a disaster even under the traffic lights," said Caren Lay, housing policy spokeswoman for the Left Party. Despite exploding rents and housing shortages, privatization of public property remains the order of the day, she said. With regard to apartments and land owned by the federal government, Lay called for a change of course. "To this end, the first step must be a halt to the privatization of federally owned apartments and land," she said. In addition, she said, the government must launch a public housing program, for example.

The left-wing politician also criticized the fact that the federal government was not making any progress in building housing on its own land. Of the 3,000 apartments planned by next year, only 76 have been built, according to the federal government. At the same time, the federal government is leaving around 780,000 square meters of living space vacant. That corresponds to just under 13,000 60-square-meter apartments, as the Left Party faction calculates./jcf/DP/zb