• The municipal housing association GEWOBAU will build 442 new homes and refurbish a further 564.
• This will be the first public social housing project co-financed by the EIB in Germany to meet the highest energy efficiency standards.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending €75 million to the municipal housing association GEWOBAU in Erlangen to support its construction and refurbishment programme. This will be the first public social housing project in Germany to meet the highest energy efficiency standards.

GEWOBAU has launched a major investment programme to address the lack of affordable housing in the rapidly growing city of Erlangen. Siemens has one of its largest offices in the city with 23 000 employees, many of whom work in the healthcare business. The university also attracts students from all over the world. As in many urban areas across Germany, rents have risen sharply in recent years, and Erlangen now has the second highest rents in Bavaria after Munich.

The GEWOBAU project involves the construction of 442 new homes that meet the highest energy efficiency standards in Germany (KfW 55 and KfW 40). 63% will be social housing and the rest will be classified as affordable. In Bavaria, the income threshold for affordable housing is €34 500 a year for a two-person household.

In addition, GEWOBAU plans to refurbish 564 existing homes to make them energy efficient and to add 126 new social housing units to other buildings. 

The project is fully compliant with the EIB’s climate action and environmental sustainability standards. It will help to reduce CO₂ emissions in buildings and support the city of Erlangen’s efforts to become climate neutral by 2030. It will also contribute to social inclusion and prevent people on low and middle incomes from being driven out of the city.

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle welcomes the showcase project: “Together with GEWOBAU, we are demonstrating that affordable homes can also be refurbished to become energy efficient, and that even energy-efficient new builds do not always have to mean high rents. We are proud that this project will help to sustain and grow a vibrant city.” 

GEWOBAU Managing Director Gernot Küchler said: “The European Investment Bank is playing a key role in helping GEWOBAU Erlangen to achieve its objective of becoming carbon neutral by 2025.”

GEWOBAU Erlangen is a long-standing, forward-looking company with 122 employees. It is one of Bavaria’s largest housing associations with a portfolio of about 8 500 homes. Around one in every five people in Erlangen finds a home through GEWOBAU. Its main mission is to provide secure and socially responsible housing for broad sections of the population in the city of Erlangen on affordable terms. With its numerous refurbishment and new build projects, GEWOBAU Erlangen plays a key role in shaping the face of the city.