Berlin's Red-Green-Red Coalition Backs Article 15 Expropriation of Major Landlords

Berlin's Linke, Grüne and SPD have agreed in their exploratory paper that applying Article 15 of Germany's Basic Law would help expand municipal housing stock and overcome the housing market crisis, and the three parties are set to enter coalition negotiations. Article 15 gained prominence once it became plausible that the Volksentscheid campaign "Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen" could be implemented; it permits withdrawing means of production, land and natural resources from profit maximization so they can be managed for the common good. On that legal basis, land held by large listed landlords is to be socialized. The article reports that the real estate industry now fears a "finanzpolitisches Präzisionsinstrument" (a fiscal precision instrument), and it examines how seriously Berlin means the Vergesellschaftung, citing an ex-real-estate agent's perspective and the reaction of "Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen." Further details appear in the current issue of the Freitag.