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The government's ambitious initiatives to streamline construction and boost affordable housing in Luxembourg, such as ministerial consolidation and a policy where silence equals consent, mark a critical juncture in the battle against Luxembourg's ongoing housing crisis.
When the Frieden government assumed power at the end of 2023, all eyes were focused on the plans pertaining to Luxembourg's housing crisis.
Following the surprise announcement of Claude Meisch being named Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning, the administration put forward their ambitions to stimulate construction and expand the offer of affordable housing in the Grand Duchy.
Where do matters stand at the beginning of 2024? Our colleagues from RTL took a deep dive into two specific strategies of the new administration.
Ministerial consolidation
There are a number of examples of construction projects being slowed down despite initial enthusiasm to build a maximum number of homes as quickly as possible. And more often than not, lengthy administrative procedures are said to have stood in the way of efficient construction.
The 'Itzigerknupp' project in Bonnevoie, for instance, is expected to house close to 2,000 people across 785 homes once completed. Already approved by the Luxembourg City council back in 2013, it took a full decade before the financing law was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in December last year. What slowed down the project was, among other things, the fact that the land in question was in the hands of various owners, with significant time and energy being spent on reaching agreements with all those involved.
Addressing the situation in a December session of the Chamber last year, Lydie Polfer, Luxembourg City Mayor and MP for the Democratic Party (DP), argued that the procedure would not have taken so long if there had been the option of "ministerial consolidation", meaning that the Ministry for Home Affairs can regroup land for the purpose of large-scale construction projects.
At the time, MP Alex Donnersbach from the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) also expressed his support for this procedure.
The idea for it was initially put forward by the Greens' Henri Kox, the former Housing Minister, to avoid having individual land owners block entire projects that are desperately needed. However, a draft bill is yet to make it through the Chamber.
Silence is tantamount to agreement
Another key measure that the government put a lot of faith into after assuming power was the "silence is tantamount to agreement" principle, by which a building request is automatically approved if there is no response from the mayor within a certain period of time.
Debates of the issue have only started now, which means that it will still take some time before the first legislative texts are being drafted. This information was confirmed to RTL in written form by the Home Affairs Ministry, with the Union of Cities and Municipalities in Luxembourg (Syvicol) also said to be on board.
Before any substantial progress can be made on that front, however, a dedicated task force will be created in the context of the 'housing roundtable'. To help accelerate responses and avoid further administrative gridlocks, the government further plans on digitalising some of the processes involved.
There are however areas where the "silence is tantamount to agreement" principle already applies. The Environment Ministry, for instance, has confirmed to RTL that it does so for requests pertaining to photovoltaic installations below 50 kilowatt thanks to an EU regulation. In this case, the response deadline is one month.
To accelerate this particular procedure even more, the government is now said to consider abolishing the need for building permits for private photovoltaic installations altogether.
