In the European Union's most populous city, pressure on the housing market is so great that many of its residents are willing to undertake a historic experiment: Five years ago, Berliners voted in a referendum to instruct the Senate of the German capital to draft a law that would put an end to the power of large real estate companies.
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that → undertake → companies
Those that owned more than 3,000 units should be expropriated, they said.
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they → own → units
The Senate did not act on the results of the referendum, which was non-binding.
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which → act → referendum
Meanwhile, the average cost of new leases has since risen by about half.
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cost → rise → half
But in the Berlin elections on September 20, the socialist Left Party, which in its campaign had promised to act on the referendum, won the largest share of the vote.
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which → promise → vote
Whether it will be able to make good on its promises now depends on how negotiations to form a coalition shape up.
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negotiations → make → coalition
But whatever happens, the election has drawn attention once again to the severity of the housing crisis in many cities across Europe.
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election → happen → Europe
Here are some initiatives that have already been put in place:
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that → put → place
Vienna: The city is the landlord
The Vienna model is a flagship solution to soaring rent prices in Europe.
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model → soar → Europe
The ambitious social housing program as introduced after World War I when the Austrian capital experienced a severe housing crisis.
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capital → introduce → crisis
Beds were so scarce that some workers had to sleep in shifts.
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workers → have → shifts
Diseases such as tuberculosis spread in the cramped living conditions.
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Diseases → spread → conditions
The model serves to stabilize the city's housing market to this day: According to the Vienna authorities, the city owns approximately 220,000 municipal apartments that it rents out as well as 200,000 subsidized dwellings.
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it → serve → that
More than 60% of Vienna's residents live in one of these two types of housing.
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% → live → housing
This also helps to stabilize prices on the private market.
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This → help → market
Basel: Public land, private buildings
The fact that housing is becoming increasingly expensive in many cities is largely due to the fact that a city's attractiveness is reflected in land prices.
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attractiveness → become → prices
In many places, people are considering how to decouple rents from the price of land.
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people → consider → land
One means of doing this is not to sell municipal land but to lease it to cooperatives or socially-conscious investors.
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means → do → cooperatives
This benefits councils that do not have to bear construction costs and developers too, as they do not have to factor in exorbitant land costs that are ultimately passed on to tenants.
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that → benefit → tenants
About 40% of all cooperative housing units are located on public land.
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% → locate → land
The Spanish city of Barcelona and the Portuguese capital Lisbon have also stepped up efforts to put this model in place.
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city → step → place
Paris: Buying back office buildings and converting them into homes
It is harder if land and buildings are in private hands.
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land → buy → hands
In 2014, the French capital Paris launched an anti-displacement plan giving the municipality a "first right of refusal" in gentrifying neighborhoods to increase the share of affordable housing in the city.
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capital → launch → city
The current target is 30% social housing for low-income residents by 2035
Earlier this year, the French government and the Paris regional authorities identified 61 projects that could convert empty office buildings into housing and create up to 8,200 homes in the inner suburbs of the French capital.
Prague: Apartments for public-sector workers
The Czech capital has found another way to keep those without whom the city could not function in Prague: caregivers, police officers, teachers and sanitation workers.
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city → identify → Prague
Some 660 new energy-efficient apartments reserved specifically for public-sector employees have just been built.
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apartments → reserve → employees
The subsidiary of a Czech bank, which has received European loans, handled the development.
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which → receive → development
The aim is to keep rents 20% below the market rate thanks to economies of scale, and it is not the bank who decides on the tenants but hospitals or public sector agencies, which draw up leases and can attract new employees with affordable rent options.
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which → keep → options
More apartments are currently being planned.
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apartments → plan → ?
Non-profit cost rental housing
It has also become difficult for people with low incomes to stay in the Irish capital Dublin.
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people → become → capital
During and after Ireland's financial crisis of 2008, foreign investors bought up a lot of real estate and at the same time rents skyrocketed when several major tech companies chose Dublin as their EU headquarters because of favorable tax rates.
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companies → buy → rates
There are now long waiting lists for public housing in the city whose supply remains too low.
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supply → be → city
In 2021, the Irish government introduced the Cost Rental Housing program to provide housing to those on middle incomes, i.e. those who earn too much to qualify for public housing but too little to have a chance on the private market.
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who → introduce → market
To qualify in Dublin, a household has to have a net income of below €66,000 ($75,000) per year.
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household → qualify → year
Non-profits or public agencies lease out the apartments and rents are below market levels, by an average of almost 30% according to a recent study by the Dublin-based Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI).
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rents → lease → Institute
The Irish government hopes to be able to deliver 18,000 low-cost rental homes by the end of the decade.
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government → hop → decade
This article was translated from German.
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article → translate → German
The Aporia
