The Left Works: Berlin Approves of the Rent Cap

DIE LINKE party chair Katja Kipping declares: “The rent cap shows how tangible the Left is. It is policy for the many. Berlin shows how it is done: The rent cap becomes a law! Nearly 1.5 million households will benefit from it. This is a joint effort of renters, initiatives and the red-red-green state government who successfully took on the real estate lobby. Now the pressure needs to be uphold to extend  this measure to the national level. The rent madness needs to end.”

Party chair Bernd Riexinger adds: “This is a great success for the citizens of Berlin which vehemently fought against exploding rents. Politics and civil society in a joint effort have shown the real estate lobby its limits and won. This is an important interim victory to now introduce a rent cap all over Germany wherever the housing market is overheated.

The fight against exploding rents only just begun. Housing is a human right which cannot be left to the markets. The speculation on housing needs to be ended. We demand the transfer of real estate corporations into public ownership. Furthermore, we need the building of 250000 social housings annually. We want to introduce a rent cap in overheated housing markets all over Germany. Therefore, DIE LINKE supports, in the context of its campaign “Affordable rent instead of massive return”, already initiatives for the introduction of a rent cap in several German states as for example in Bavaria or Hamburg.”