Speed up housing construction: make planning law more flexible and extend tenant protections

In many German cities, affordable housing is scarce. To change this, municipalities should be allowed until the end of 2030 to approve exemptions from planning law more easily so that residential buildings can be built faster. In addition, in justified cases cities may deviate from the usual noise protection rules if this creates new housing. Existing protections against converting rental apartments into owner-occupied apartments in tight housing markets will be extended by five years.