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Rent madness in Berlin: "It doesn't work that way"

2021-09-11T20:05:34.264Z


Thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin against high rents and displacement - they want the expropriation of large real estate groups. But that wouldn't be easy.


Read the video transcript here

Rising rents, a lack of housing, too little new construction - housing is one of the great social issues of the time and a hot topic in the election campaign.

At the "rental demonstration" in Berlin, several thousand people took to the streets for affordable housing.

In Berlin, the initiative "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen und Co" has pushed through a referendum. The aim is to socialize large real estate groups in the capital in order to lower rents.

Private housing companies with more than 3,000 apartments in Berlin would be affected, with the exception of cooperatives.

In total, it is about more than 220,000 of the approximately 1.5 million rental apartments in the capital.

In future, they are to be administered in an institution under public law, in which, in addition to the Senate, tenant organizations are also allowed to have a say.

Later reprivatisation should also be excluded in their statutes.

Lower rents through socialization - Johannes Schorling has been committed to this idea for three years.

At least for some tenants of Deutsche Wohnen, the referendum hits the mark.

OT Johannes Schorling, Initiative

»Expropriate

Deutsche Wohnen und Co

«

Rents have exploded in the last ten years, while wages have barely increased.

When I talk to people, I just notice that almost everyone has some history of the rent madness in Berlin.

If they are not affected themselves, they know others who are affected.

I believe that with the referendum we have the historic chance to put a stop to it in order to prevent our city from becoming like London or Paris at some point.

«

In South Neukölln, however, not everyone is convinced of the urgency of the matter.

Outside the city center, the initiative has a hard time.

According to an rbb survey, up to 47 percent of Berliners think the issue is "rather good", but 43 percent of those questioned think it is "rather bad", meaning the outcome is open.

An own cheerleading troop is supposed to motivate the activists for the final spurt of the election campaign.

Political support comes from the left and the Greens, the other parties in the House of Representatives are against the expropriation.

The decision for the future Berlin Senate is not legally binding anyway.

Above all, there is skepticism because the question of legal certainty arises - the memories of the Berlin rent cap tipped by the Federal Constitutional Court in March are too fresh.

It is also unclear how high the compensation to be paid to the housing groups would have to be.

Seven to 13 billion, says the citizens' initiative, which wants to compensate well below the market value of the apartments.

On the other hand, the Berlin Senate is reckoning with 28 to 36 billion euros.

The financing costs would burden the budget over and above the expected rental income by 100 to 340 million euros per year.

Strong criticism of the project comes from business associations.

One should finally concentrate on the new building instead of spending a lot of money on existing apartments, demands the Association of the Berlin Housing Industry.

Maren Kern, Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies

»

An essential aspect that speaks against the expropriation is the fact that compensation of 37 billion would have to be paid and that puts an extremely heavy burden on the Berlin budget, even after we had Covid and the budget is burdened anyway, and it would lead to that expenditures that are urgently needed for the renovation of schools, for the construction of kindergartens, and also for the construction of apartments, would not be available.

«

The citizens' initiative and activist Schorling make a completely different calculation.

Johannes Schorling, Initiative

»Expropriate

Deutsche Wohnen und Co

«

Compensation has to be paid, but it can be financed from the rent in the long term.

In the long term, this is actually a gain for Berlin, a totally good deal, because the country is acquiring a quarter of a million apartments and they will continue to generate rental income even after the compensation has been paid off.

«

Nobody knows how good the deal can actually be.

The more compensation has to be paid, the less room there would be for rent reductions, since the rent is supposed to finance the compensation.

The hoped-for effect on the rent index would be correspondingly small.

The open questions do not detract from the enthusiasm of the expropriation activists; they want to take full advantage of the last two weeks of the residential election campaign. On September 26th, the Berliners will vote, parallel to the House of Representatives and Bundestag elections.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2021-09-11

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