In the war of attrition against hostile housing forces, the city state of Berlin, Germany recently gave housing activists world-wide something to cheer about.
The hostile forces were (and still are) Berlin’s biggest landlords in a city predominated by renters. With no practical ceilings1 on rents, and apparently no social conscience to temper their profits, landlords are pushing the cost of living in a Berlin apartment higher and higher, impoverishing more and more Berliners.
A non-binding referendum victory, part of Berlin’s September 2021 civic elections, has provided new hope for tenants. The victorious referendum result was higher than the combined total of the support received by the two most popular parties. The vote approved the lawful seizing of apartments owned by the largest landlords in the city, a direct, democratic slap to the face to laissez-faire capitalism.
Unlike earlier attempts to impose rent controls, which fell afoul of the national constitution, the current referendum proposal is based upon the right of Berlin to seize lands necessary for publicly approved purposes. Will such a referendum proposal actually be implemented? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, observers around the world are are studying the unique combination of events, laws and activist behaviours that led to the Berlin referendum victory. Can this kind of pushback against the financialization of housing be duplicated in other countries?
Next City has explored possibilities that might be exploited from an American perspective. Its analysis may well be useful to interested parties in other countries. While stopping far short of a prescription for action, the article proposes a number of takeaways from those demanding some form of effective control over Berlin rents. Read more in Next City: 4 Lessons From Berlin Organizers’ Campaign to Re-Nationalize 250,000 Apartments
