The Housing Fund's reform took place nearly two years ago, but the CSV remained persistent in calling for a so-called stress test. This suggestion was greeted by criticism as well as surprise, that the topic came up at all. As Democratic Party MP Max Hahn reminded the largest opposition party that Minister for Housing Sam Tanson had made herself available for questions several weeks ago.
CSV MP Marc Lies' criticism claimed the Housing Fund's work is not productive, inefficient, inert, and fundamentally a waste of money. The personnel carousel, as he described it, listing the number of resignations, caused chaos in the institution. Lies also mentioned the fund falling prey to a scam which led to a significant sum of money being transferred abroad.
In his criticism, Lies stressed MPs duty to "question how a public institution offering social housing is wasting taxpayer money."
Lies also criticised the management of the fund, which falls directly under the umbrella of the Ministry of Housing, claiming even the state council had questioned the control mechanism.
In response, Max Hahn highlighted the fruits of the reform, stressing the reality that the Housing Fund's personnel cannot ensure that all apartments are complete and ready to move into. Instead, he reminded Lies that the employees of the fund are there to oversee 'mammoth projects' like those underway in Dudelange and Wiltz. He finished by stating that the Democratic Party's expectations of the fund are fulfilled.
LSAP MP Yves Cruchten was adamant that the discussion was not suited for the plenary chamber, but for the parliamentary commission on housing. He described Lies's discussion, as requested in the plenary, "as useful as a fridge in the North pole." He went to say that it is common knowledge that the fund has gone through difficult times, but it appeared that Lies enjoyed listing all those issues. Cruchten then questioned why Lies started with issues from 2014, sarcastically claiming he could have gone further into the past to find further problems.
Cruchten did not stop there, calling Lies's mentioning of the subject on the Chamber's agenda as a political calculation. He then stressed that the discussion should not simply revolve around the number of property developers, but should also concern the fact that the majority of buildable land is owned by few private individuals.
As a reaction to Lies' criticism, minister Sam Tanson reiterated that the number of apartments currently being built is insufficient. She also named a number of projects that are in the process of being completed or have been completed since the reform. She also explained that the fund is working on a specifications sheet in order to work faster and more productive.
The system being developed is a 'geo-reference' system which allows the fund to internally to see its lands and its procedures planned for the land. This dashboard will allow the fund's work to be visible to its employees in order to be more efficient and understand where particular demand for housing is based.
The fund currently employs 100 individuals, although 50 of those employees are responsible for estate management. As a reminder, the fund manages 2,000 housing estates, which is why, as Tanson explained, it is impossible to calculate the productivity per employee.
She finally explained that the fund is also sneakily given projects, that are difficult to enact for various reasons, including the land requiring sanitation or protection. This too slows down the fund's work.
