initiative
“Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co” is planning a new referendum
Bana Mahmood (lr), Veza Clute-Simon and Achim Lindemann from the “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co” initiative at the press conference in front of the Red Town Hall in Berlin. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co” initiative is not letting up. Two years after their successful referendum, Berliners are planning to vote on a socialization law.
Since the successful referendum in September 2021, the situation on the Berlin housing market has become significantly worse, the initiative argued. For many, rents are barely affordable. Landlords squeezed tenants out like never before. She therefore now wants to work on drafting a corresponding law. She wants to start a crowdfunding campaign to finance her activities. How long all this will take is unclear.
The hope is that the planned law will ultimately slow down further rent increases. Achim Lindemann, who speaks for the initiative, estimates the chances of getting the necessary approval at a voting date independent of the House of Representatives or federal elections are good. 80 percent of people in Berlin live on rent and the rent crisis is getting worse. In the referendum, at least a quarter of all Berliners eligible to vote must support the issue.
In the successful referendum on September 26, 2021, a good 59 percent of voters voted for the socialization of real estate companies with more than 3,000 apartments in Berlin. The then red-green-red Senate then set up a commission of experts, which began work in April 2022. In its final report presented at the end of June, it came to the conclusion that the socialization of housing companies was possible.
However, the black-red Senate does not plan to use this opportunity quickly. He has announced that he will first develop a socialization framework law, which will only come into force two years after its promulgation. Before that, it should be reviewed by the Federal Constitutional Court.
Initiative Deutsche Wohnen & Co. expropriate Expert commission on the referendum on the socialization of large housing companies Article 15 in the Basic Law on the subject of socialization