A referendum to expropriate apartments from big landlords in
Berlin
Locals complain of high rents, and block plans to build more
homes
Print edition |
Europe
Apr 11th 2019 | BERLIN
Sarah-lena knust, a mild-mannered young pr consultant, is an
unlikely radical. But finding a place to live in Germany’s booming capital
tests the hardiest soul. Since moving to Berlin last year Ms Knust has twice
struggled to find affordable housing. The last flat-viewing she attended
attracted 30 rivals. The place she eventually found will suck up nearly half
her income. “I knew it would be hard,” she sighs. “But I didn’t think it would
be like this.”
Such tales are familiar in a city where the days of paying
next to nothing for cavernous apartments are long gone. That is why tens of
thousands of Berliners, including Ms Knust, have lent their names to a radical
proposal: to expropriate private housing. The campaign, launched at a “rent
insanity” protest in Berlin on April 6th, is gathering signatures to force a
citywide vote on whether to oblige companies that own over 3,000 properties to
sell them to the city. It relies on a novel interpretation of a constitutional
provision that allows private assets to be “transferred to public ownership”.
Views vary on whether that will pass muster in the courts, but over half of
Berliners back the plan, in a city where 85% rent. Firms owning almost 250,000
properties, around 15% of Berlin’s housing stock, would be affected. Deutsche
Wohnen (dw), the biggest, has become the symbolic target of the measure.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário