Patrick Goldschmidt: "We Need Investors to Return to the Housing Market"

Patrick Goldschmidt, member of the City of Luxembourg's Collège Echevinal and Member of Parliament, spoke about the capital's most pressing challenges, from the housing crisis to urban security and the role of Parliament in an era of rapid change.

What are the main challenges facing Luxembourg City today?

With nearly 140,000 residents and decades of strong growth, Luxembourg City is navigating a complex set of challenges. Growth has slowed in recent years due to successive economic crises, and the housing shortage has emerged as one of the most urgent issues. While building permits are being issued, the vast majority cover renovations rather than new builds. Studios rent for 1,500 to 1,600 euros, and even single rooms reach 1,000 euros a month. The country needs approximately 4,000 new housing units per year nationally, yet construction has ground to a near halt.

Beyond housing, Goldschmidt points to a visible deterioration in public safety, with incidents of incivility in public transport and pickpocketing increasingly common, phenomena largely absent a decade or two ago. On mobility, he notes that the rise of remote working has meaningfully reduced congestion, with one day of telework per week representing a 20% reduction in traffic.

Should the city release its land for construction?

Goldschmidt acknowledges the city's significant land holdings, but argues that available plots are not the bottleneck. "There are already enough available plots, whether at Arc-Busier, Langfour, or Kirchberg. Developers won't break ground until more than 30% of units are pre-sold. There are no buyers." Even if the city wanted to develop its own land directly, a single site like Porte d'Hollerich could cost between 500 and 600 million euros to build out, well beyond municipal capacity.

The real solution, he argues, is to bring investors back to the market. Reintroducing accelerated depreciation for property investment, a mechanism abolished around a decade ago, would be a meaningful first step. "Now we're in the opposite situation. It should be brought back." He also raises the need to address completion guarantees in VEFA contracts, noting that many guarantees currently cover only the construction value and not the land, leaving buyers exposed when developers fail.

"We are going to install hundreds of additional cameras now at La Gare and Bonnevoie."

Are more surveillance cameras coming to the Gare and Bonnevoie?

Connected via fibre optic networks, the rollout will form part of the VisuPol system managed by the national police. It is the municipality's responsibility to install and finance the infrastructure, while the police handle the monitoring.

But Goldschmidt stresses that cameras alone are not enough. "If you get your wallet stolen in the city today, the police officer will tell you it's not serious, the person will be back out tomorrow. The camera is one thing, but the legislative framework must also evolve." He calls for stronger enforcement to accompany the rollout, so that footage translates into real consequences. On the broader question of photographing intruders in private spaces, he admits the current legal situation surprised him, and commits to raising it with the Minister of Internal Security.

As an MP, how much real influence do you have over legislation?

Goldschmidt pushes back on the perception that deputies are merely rubber-stamping executive decisions. The coalition agreement sets the broad framework, but parliamentary fractions contribute substantively to shaping legislation. He points to the recent tax reform as a concrete example. That said, he acknowledges the practical limits: a majority deputy tabling a proposal outside the coalition agreement without consulting the relevant minister would be unusual.

On indexation, he agrees that a capping mechanism above a certain salary threshold deserves serious analysis, with complex knock-on effects for social security and pension entitlements. "We could both recommend that a future government should tackle this." He closes on the broader public mood: with elections two and a half years away, citizens are expecting tangible results. "Everyone is waiting for a decisive impact from both the government and the city."