Initiative feels tailwind for expropriation of housing companies in Hamburg

The popular initiative "Hamburg Expropriated" was founded in September 2021 immediately after the successful referendum on the expropriation of large housing companies in Berlin. On Monday, the Hamburg initiators now want to take the first hurdle for a similar success in Hamburg and hand over more than 15,000 signatures in support of their demands in the city hall. The popular initiative must submit 10,000 valid votes by March 15th, then it will be considered successful - and the politicians of the Hanseatic city must deal with the concerns of the initiators.

"The frustration and desperation about Hamburg's housing policy is huge, we felt it everywhere when collecting," Marie Kleinert described the experiences of "Hamburg expropriated" in a statement on Tuesday. Affordable housing is hard to find for people on low incomes. According to Kleinert, the housing companies could enforce almost any rent level and gag contracts.

The initiative strives for the "expropriation and socialization" of large, "profit-oriented housing companies" with more than 500 apartments. The municipal housing company Saga and cooperatives are excluded. The basis for the expropriation would be Article 15 of the Basic Law, which offers the possibility of socializing land and property. The housing associations that currently own the rental apartments would have to be compensated. According to the initiators, the compensation could be paid in the form of bonds, the annual repayment installments of which would be financed from the rental income. The costs for the city remained manageable, so the reasoning.

According to its own account, the initiative is supported by more than 150 activists and currently nine district groups. Around 15,500 signatures had been collected by Tuesday. The initiative wants to announce separately on Monday how many there will be at the end of the collection.

If the count by the Senate Chancellery shows that 10,000 valid votes were cast, the citizenship as state parliament has the duty to hear the initiative in a public session in one of its committees. If the citizenry does not respond to the initiative's demands within four months, the initiators can go one step further and apply for a referendum. So far only the left in the citizenship has signaled their support for the demands of the initiative.

One is well prepared for a "no" from the citizenry, said initiative spokesman Hanno Hinrichs. In view of the mood among Hamburg's tenants, there is "no doubt that a referendum will be successful". In this second stage, 60,000 votes must come together within three weeks. The city council would then have four months to approve the project. If that doesn't happen, the initiators could call for a referendum in which all Hamburg residents can vote directly on the project.

The last referendum was in 2013. At that time, the Hamburg voters voted for the city to take over the energy grids. Parallel to the popular initiative "Hamburg Expropriated", there are currently two other initiatives in Hamburg. One of them would like to ban gender in authorities and schools, the other calls for a largely advertising-free Hamburg. The initiative against gender is aiming for a referendum on the day of the next general election. This will take place in early 2025.