Rent peak | Socialization: Important contribution to affordable housing

Due to rising rental costs in cities, fewer and fewer people are able to choose where they want to live. Photo: imago/Martin Müller Black and Red remain unimpressed. "We as the federal government agree that the socialization of housing would not be effective," said Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) at the housing summit of the German Tenants' Association (DMB) and the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB) on Thursday in Berlin, as the Handelsblatt reports. The Left's election success in the capital doesn't seem to change that. They had made the socialization of apartments from large real estate groups such as Vonovia a condition for a coalition.

A federal law that is intended to make the nationalization of rental apartments impossible through regulations at the state level, on the other hand, is "constitutionally non-trivial" and therefore also difficult to implement, according to Hubig. There is currently no draft law on this, just a resolution from the coalition committee. With such a law, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (Union) wanted above all to “send a message to foreign investors.” Federal Construction Minister Verena Hubertz (SPD) announced again on Friday that she wanted to quickly initiate such a measure.

According to "Taz", Sebastian Dullien from the Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research urged the housing summit to discuss socialization objectively. At the end of September, together with economists Patrick Kaczmarczyk, Tom Krebs and Achim Truger, he published a study on the transfer of large housing stocks into public ownership. In it they conclude that socialization could "make an important contribution" to "making life affordable for lower and middle incomes." It would quickly open up additional scope for housing policy and reduce social segregation.

The DMB and the DGB do not require socialization in their catalog of demands for the rent peak. They are concentrating on rent regulations, such as punishing usury more strongly, a nationwide rent freeze and on tightening the rent cap. There are currently many exceptions to both the usury regulation and the rent cap. One problem with the latter is, among other things, that tenants have to proactively stand up for their rights. This is difficult in the tight housing market. In September, the German Lawyers' Association also spoke out in favor of tightening the measure.

According to Dullien, stronger rent regulation also makes economic sense. The owners' association Haus und Grund, which represents the interests of landlords, and housing construction groups had repeatedly rejected this. Stronger regulation could deter investors, the argument goes. Merz had argued similarly against socialization. According to Dullien, the private sector mainly builds high-priced apartments anyway.

A draft for better rent protection from the Ministry of Justice in the spring includes, among other things, changes to index rents, furnished apartments and short-term rentals. These are intended to minimize loopholes for higher costs in rent controls. At the first reading of the bill in July, Union MPs called for relaxations in favor of landlords.

The rent peak was underpinned by a new index from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. In the third quarter, rents for apartments on offer rose by 1.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, without taking inflation into account. It is the strongest increase since the first quarter of last year. Existing rents, i.e. apartments that are already inhabited, are particularly hard hit. According to a representative survey by the Forsa Society for Social Research and Statistical Analyzes on behalf of the DMB and DGB, a third of tenants now consider their rents to be too high.

“Mrs Hubig’s draft rent law is not enough,” said Sören Pellmann, parliamentary group leader of the Left Party, commenting on the increased apartment rents. »Instead of Hubig's patchwork, we need a fundamental tenancy law reform that immediately freezes rents and then caps them nationwide. Index rental agreements should not be better regulated, but should be abolished. The DMB and DGB are also calling for the number of social housing units to be doubled and new apartments to be made affordable.

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