Amir Schraff's (name changed by the editors) nightmare began on December 24, 2022. On that day, the single father from Afghanistan, who had been living in Germany for more than 16 years, received notice that his lease near Bonn was being terminated because the owner was apparently planning to use it. What followed is something that hundreds of thousands of people in Germany are currently going through: Months of desperate searching for an affordable place to live.

It can involve dozens of unanswered requests, hundreds of other applicants, and seemingly endless queues of people waiting to see an apartment. That is, if you're lucky enough to be invited in the first place. Only to receive the usual response soon after: "We're sorry, we've chosen someone else!" Schraff, who filed a lawsuit against the termination of his lease, told DW: "The housing situation in Germany is getting worse and worse."

A look at the figures shows just how dire the situation on the German housing market really is: There is a shortage of over 800,000 apartments in Germany, a figure that is growing. More than 9.5 million people, mostly single parents and their children, live in cramped conditions, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

Due to high interest rates and construction costs, the German government is far from achieving its ambitious goal of building 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 social housing units.

According to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, around 245,000 apartments were built in 2023, and only 210,000 this year. With the supply of housing in Germany so low, and demand so high, rents are also skyrocketing. And in their desperation, more and more people like Amir Schraff are turning to organizations like the Deutschen Mieterbund (German Tenants' Association), which campaigns on behalf of........

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