The nonbinding ballot initiative encourages the city government to expropriate roughly 15 percent of the city’s rental housing stock.
by Christian Britschgi
Reason.com
Facing a shortage of homes, Berlin voters have endorsed a plan to seize some of the existing stock from its private owners.
On Sunday, 56 percent of voters in the German capital approved a nonbinding ballot initiative that asks the city government to expropriate the holdings of landlords who own 3,000 or more units. That would municipalize roughly 240,000 units, about 15 percent of the city’s rental housing stock.
“The majority of Berliners eligible to vote opted for the socialization of the large real estate groups and thus against speculation with living space,” announced the organizers of the Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen and Co., according to Deutsche Welle. (Deutsche Wohnen is a large real estate company.)