More than 360,000 square metres of housing owned by the German federal government are vacant amidst a severe lack of housing in many German cities, information obtained by dpa showed. The properties amount to around several thousand flats which are supposed to house federal employees, according to the information. The government’s property agency BIMA owns more than 18,000 square metres of vacant housing in Berlin alone. BIMA is one of the largest property owners in Germany. The figures were revealed in an answer to a parliamentary question from Caren Lay, a member of the Left Party in the Bun…