Living Spaces: Instruments for a needs-based use of living space in municipalities

The District of Steinfurt is a rural area, characterized primarily by single- and two-family houses in private ownership. More and more elderly, often single people are living there in old, non-barrier-free buildings with poor energetic standards and high per capita living space. At the same time, there is a lack of living space especially for young families. The aim of the project is the development and testing of an integrated and locally adapted instrument mix, to promote the usage of underutilized living space in the district of Steinfurt to its full capacity, its adaptation to the age and stage of life of the residents, and its improvement in terms of energetic quality. At the centre of the instruments, there is a central counselling agency and accommodation service which will be designed to mobilize under-used or va-cant living space in privately owned single- and two-family houses, resulting in its needs-based use. An initial analysis shall investigate the local framework conditions and evaluate experiences of other communities.  During the concept stage, suitable communities in the district are selected on the basis of this analysis, and instruments adapted to the specific local conditions are being developed. The instruments will be tested in the implementation and evaluation stage. An accompanying evaluation will identify the effects on land use, urban development, climate protection, as well as social effects and the consequences for housing policies. Furthermore, it includes an assessment of the effects in the case of nationwide coverage. Finally, the results are commu-nicated throughout Germany.