Overview
- Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner, who posted on X on Sunday, said expropriations solve no problem and would make the housing crisis worse.
- The remarks followed Saturday’s Linke party congress in Lichtenberg, where lead candidate Elif Eralp vowed to carry out the referendum to socialize large landlords.
- The Linke platform also pledges a rent cap for city-owned housing companies and a new state tenant-protection office to pursue rent gouging.
- Socialization under Article 15 of Germany’s Basic Law would move land and housing assets of big profit-driven firms into public ownership.
- Wegner argued for tougher enforcement of Berlin’s rent brake and checks by the city’s rent price office, plus more building, framing a clear policy choice for voters.