Publication Social Movements / Organizing - City / Municipality / Region - Socialize This! - Wohnen Socialization: A Democratic, Lawful Solution to Berlin’s Housing Crisis

Initiatives like Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen stand in the best of democratic legal traditions

Information

Series

Policy Papers

Author

Joanna Kusiak,

Published

January 2021

Ordering advice

Only available online

Related Files

The yellow and purple logo of the “expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.”  campaign can be seen all over Berlin these days. Photo: Startnext/DWE

The whole world is looking at Berlin with awe: in Art. 15 of the German Basic Law, Berliners have found a democratic, affordable, and lawful way to solve the housing crisis. After a year-long delay, the Berlin Senate has confirmed that the referendum on socializing housing stock proposed by a civic initiative called Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen is legally permissible.

Joanna Kusiak is an urban sociologist and Research Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge University, and also a member of the socialization working group of the initiative Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen.

Now that socialization has been officially declared both legally and politically possible, the corporate real-estate lobby will try its best to misrepresent it as economically harmful and “authoritarian” in spirit. Indeed, the reverse is true. Socialization is a procedure in the best legal tradition of democratic Germany, enabling sustainable housing reforms and saving public money. It provides a valuable model for managing all kinds of public resources in the era of post-COVID-19 economic insecurity. If we all unite in the effort to collect nearly 200,000 signatures for a referendum on socializing housing, we can take Berlin from being “poor but sexy” to being “sexy, smart, and sustainable”.

Download the Policy Paper