On the eve of voting in the elections to the Bundestag, some politicians offered voters the idea of the possibility of expropriation of housing from large housing concerns.
The German Union of Cities and Communities (Deutscher Städte- und Gemeindebund) criticized plans to remove housing from the property of large concerns and transfer it to local authorities for public administration. “Anyone who thinks they will solve the housing shortage by expropriation is mistaken,” said on Monday, October 4, the head of the organization Gerd Landsberg (Gerd Landsberg). “No matter how hard politicians try, the problem of housing shortages in densely populated areas will not be resolved in the short term, it will take time,” he added.
From Landsberg’s point of view, investments in public transport would help improve the situation. “In Germany, 1.5 million apartments are empty. Of course, they stand idle in areas with poor transport infrastructure. So sometimes it makes sense to say: we will build a tram line that could quickly get to such areas. Then people will be able to live there and, as it was recently, work, ”the expert said, implying the possibility of working remotely.
On the day of voting for the elections to the Bundestag, September 26, Berliners had the opportunity in a referendum to express their views on the possibility of expropriation of housing from large housing concerns. More than half of the respondents (56.4%) ultimately supported this idea, 39% were against it.
Since the initiative to expropriate housing from large concerns like Deutsche Wohnen AG in Berlin was supported by more than a quarter of the city’s residents with voting rights, the Senate of the German capital will now have to develop a corresponding bill. However, the prospect of such a law will depend on the composition of the government of the federal state of Berlin. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) oppose the nationalization of housing. The left-wing party actively supports this initiative, while the Greens consider this step “the last of the permissible”.
Germany says this:
It became known when and how much Deutsche Bahn will increase ticket prices
What new services are paid by the health insurance funds from October 1
“I have the right” in Germany: Zeitarbeit and the rights of temporary workers
.