A good year after the bad news reached the tenants at Wörthstraße 8, Katrin Göbel is sitting on the gallery of the meeting room in the town hall on Wednesday morning, spellbound and looking down at the members of the city council’s holiday senate as they raise their hands to vote. In July 2022, an acquaintance pointed out an advertisement on a real estate portal. The sentence: “That’s your house!”
Since that day, fear has driven the 13 tenants in the building, which was built in 1894, and currently pay rents of around ten euros per square meter. After all, in Haidhausen in particular one knows umpteen stories of properties that are first sold and then renovated. And then the rents just double. But instead of surrendering to their fate, the household in Wörthstraße took up the fight.
In order to protect their property from the threatening speculation, ten parties came up with the plan to buy the building themselves. To this end, they founded an association, have so far collected 160 loan commitments of over 2.5 million euros and also turned to the city with a request for support.
The holiday senate has now granted this: against the votes of the CSU, free voters and FDP, the committee approved a subsidy that amounts to a good one million euros. For “Wörth 8”, as the house community is called, this means that they now have the means to start negotiations about buying the house.
“We were happy and relieved,” says Katrin Göbel after the meeting. “For us, the support of the city is an important building block in our goal of buying the house.” Strictly speaking, the “Wörth 8” association only wants to buy half of the property. The other part now belongs to a foundation with which the tenant community wants to conclude a long-term lease agreement. The owner of the second half of the house offers it for 4.5 million euros on the open market, which means for “Wörth 8”: The association has to raise around 5.3 million euros including additional costs – mainly through direct loans from private individuals.
Katrin Göbel (left) and Ulrike Brugger from the “Wörth 8” club are relieved but not euphoric – because 1.5 million euros are still missing.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The actual purchase should then be made by a limited liability company, which, in addition to “Wörth 8”, also includes the apartment building syndicate. This non-commercial initiative from Freiburg supports people in buying or building a property together in order to permanently remove it from the speculative market. There are almost 200 such syndicate houses nationwide – but so far only one in Munich, namely on Ligsalzstrasse in the Westend.
Andy Ebert, who also lives in the building, is convinced that Wörthstraße 8 could become the second and would be a “flagship project” in the city. Dieter Reiter (SPD) is also hoping for many imitators, as the mayor emphasized at the meeting of the holiday senate. Unlike CSU city councilor Fabian Ewald, who warns against creating a precedent and the “considerable financial outlay”, Reiter speaks of a “good deal” for the city.
In return for the subsidy, she secured the right to occupy five apartments in the house for a period of 80 years. Means: As soon as they become free, someone who is entitled to subsidized housing must move in there. As long as this is not the case, the city receives an annual reimbursement for the unused right of receipt. In addition, “Wörth 8” has committed itself to keeping the rents in the apartments concerned ten percent below the municipal rent index.
The city is breaking new ground with this funding structure, which is why we are talking about a pilot project. The town hall has been acquiring occupancy rights since 2018, but so far only for unlet apartments. “The tenants at Wörthstrasse 8 have been fighting with great commitment for the preservation of their house for over a year,” emphasizes Anne Hübner, chairwoman of the SPD/Volt parliamentary group. “The fact that we as a city can now provide noticeable support is a great joint success.”
The left and the Green/Pink List faction also praised the pilot project. City councilor Christian Smolka says with a view to the funding that has now been decided: “It opens up interesting perspectives for tenants who want to get involved in this way for the house they live in. The city receives long-term occupancy rights in a conservation statute area that is used for luxury renovations threatened and urgently needs affordable housing.”
Meanwhile, the residents of Wörthstraße 8 are happy about a “big step towards our goal,” says Katrin Göbel. However, she sees no reason for too much euphoria – also with a view to a good 1.5 million euros that the club still has to collect. “The great celebration with champagne will only come,” says Katrin Göbel, “when we’ve actually bought the house.”