Regarding the Coalition talks around rent, the Initiative Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen calls on the Green Party leader Bettina Jarasch to take the vote of more than one million Berliners seriously – and to make implementation of the referendum a condition of any coalition agreement.
“Frau Jarasch must be clear: socialization is no ultima ratio, but a binding decision by more than a million voters. The Green party basis has a clear position on this. Jarasch must now show which side she is on: for a democratic, quick implementation of the referendum – or for an undemocratic politics of delay on behalf of the real estate lobby”, said Moheb Shafaqyar, speaker for the initiative.
The breadth of the social support for the socialisation of housing space is seen in an open letter from Berlin’s civil society. In the open letter Fridays for future, the teachers’ union GEW and over40 more organisations call for the implementation of the referendum.
This open letter first appeared in German on the Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen website. Here is an English translation. Organisations and individuals who want to sign the petition should send an e-mail to aufruf@volksentscheid-umsetzen.de. DWE would appreciate it if you can circulate the call in your networks.
Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen Open Letter
The result of the referendum on September 26th was clear: more than 1 million Berliners voted YES in favor of the expropriation of property owned by the biggest profit-oriented real estate companies.
We call on all democratic parties in the Berlin parliament to participate constructively in writing a draft law for this expropriation, based on article 15 of our constitution.
We call on the parties forming the government to include the following binding phrases in the coalition treaty:
The coalition will do everything possible to implement the referendum in the coming legislative period. A working group will be established in the first or second quarter of 2022 in order to draft a law regulating the transformation of real estate into common property. The working group will consist of representatives of the initiative “Deutsche Wohnen und Co. enteignen”, other organizations focused on the rent crisis (“mietenpolitische Initiativen”), organizations of tenants, experts from politics, unions and science, as well as other representatives of the Berlin population (“Stadtgesellschaft”). The law will encompass the following main points:
1. Private profit-oriented real estate companies owning more than 3000 apartments in Berlin will be expropriated based on article 15 of the constitution, in order to transform their real estate property into common property. Cooperatives will not be expropriated.
2. The companies in question will be compensated well below market value.
3. A public-law institution will be founded for the administration of the real estate property. The statute will include a passage prohibiting the privatization of institutions of the real estate property.
4. The public-law institution will administer the real estate property based on the democratic participation of the Berlin population, the tenants, the employees and the Berlin government.
First Signatories:
AG Gesetz Mietenvolksentscheid
Berlin vs. Amazon (No Amazon Tower)
Bündnis kommunal und selbstverwaltet Wohnen (kusWo)
Bündnis Mieterprotest Kosmosviertel
Bürgerinitiative Stuttgarter Platz
BVV-Fraktion von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Democratic Socialists of America Berlin
DIDF – Föderation Demokratischer Arbeitervereine e.V.
Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) Berlin
Initiative Volksentscheid Berlin autofrei
Kulturhof Koloniestr. 10 e.V. i.G.
MieterWerkStadt Charlottenburg
Netzwerk Berliner Mietshäusersyndikats-Initiativen
Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e.V. (RAV)
The LINKE Berlin LAG Internationals
