Members distributed flyers and plastered the walls of the building with profiles of people in need of housing. It is not the first time that the political party has drawn attention to the housing crisis, and, according to members at the scene, it will not be their last.
“Only looking at the town centre here, there are ten houses that are obviously empty”, said Gary Diederich, spokesperson of the Left. They estimate that there are 200 such obvious cases in the Differdange area. The building on Rue Emile Mark is believed to have been empty for the past twelve years. The owner refused several opportunities to sell to the municipality until negotiations eventually broke down for good.
“The vacancy of these apartments has to be resolved through taxes”, underlined Eric Weirich from the Differdange municipal council. The local official believes that such taxes have to be paired to the value of the property and thus increase accordingly. However, to really solve the housing problem, the municipality needs to make use of its own land and start increasing construction. Weirich conveyed that analyses are currently being done and that he expects ten to 25 hectares to be available for building purposes.
The Left used the event on Friday to also draw attention to alternative housing opportunities, such as shared living or tiny houses. The party further believes that there is a lack of emergency housing here in Luxembourg.
Aside from the general criticism, members of the Left also voiced their gratitude over the municipality’s decision to make 45 rooms in Hotel Gulliver available to Ukrainian refugees. The hotel, which the municipality recently purchased, will thus accommodate around 100 people in the not too distant future.
