Our Last Blog Post — Berlin: In The Know
We’ve learned a massive amount during this course, all with these three questions in mind:
- How do the history, economic structure, and politics of Germany influence sustainable development policy and outcomes? -> Module 1: Good Governance and Economics
- How do public opinion, interest groups, and institutions pave the way for Germany to lead in renewable energy, recycling, and climate change policy? What are the unresolved tensions? -> Module 2: Environmental Sustainability
- How should we confront the disparities in labor market, education, health, and wealth because of German reunification, historical guest worker migration, and recent refugee migration? -> Module 3: Social Sustainability
The experience that first came to mind when looking at an experience or two that we had in Berlin that helped to learn about one of these modules was the visit with André on housing policy. When looking at the creation and evolution of housing policy, the disparities in the labor market, education, health, and most specifically wealth because of reunification, historical guest worker migration, and the recent refugee migration are a pillar to the policies that are ultimately enacted today. André gave us a very deep dive into what the world of housing policy looks like, with a focus on housing programs like social housing for low income residents, which can apply to both migrants and help confront disparities of wealth at the same time. André also discussed how subsidies for new construction projects are going to help the future of the city grow as there is increased demand for housing which is of course impacted by both the migrant situation, and people across the EU moving to Berlin, with subsidized housing providing units for of course a healthy middle class and adding to the stock of social housing.
By learning directly from André specifically about the housing policy developments in the city of Berlin and how it it helps us understand how there are many factors impacting the creation and development of the policies and outcomes for the people of Berlin and Germany. With this in mind, we can ultimately see specifically that wealth disparities and migration plays one of the biggest roles in specifically the shaping of housing policy in Berlin. The two main goals as I understood from the information that André gave us was that policy is focused on two major things, social housing and keeping rent prices relatively low and affordable for Berliners, as well as subsidies for new housing projects so demand can be met for new citizens wanting to move into the city. André brought up that he is focusing on building up the social housing stock, with a goal of 100k social housing units, and mostly wants to fulfill these with new construction, of course in a sustainable way. There was a lot of building and development during the 60s and 70s, but the city of Berlin made mistakes and now they want to do lots of new construction for social housing without these same mistakes that were made for the program to go smoother and do a better job to provide for the city. The social housing stock also works in a way that after 30 to 40 years the stock eventually goes back into the free market, as you need waves of social housing stock as eventually you want these units to go back into the market as you do not want massive amounts of subsidized housing forever.
The social housing program is meant for people who are not able to provide themselves with suitable housing on the market, and helps to fill the bridge between economic disadvantaged citizens of Berlin, while also generating revenue to help pay back the projects, generating revenue for some of the companies that help to build these units (even if just a partial amount of their projects are meant for social housing) and then ultimately to help sustainably develop the city to fit the demand for more inhabitants as they project for the next decade or so.
There are also many interesting components to housing programs in Berlin, with these programs helping to keep rents low for people who need housing but do not make massive incomes, and help the city flourish as a whole by making it economical for all different types of consumers and citizens, in order to ultimately provide housing and a place to live for all different types of demographics.
While Germany has capitalistic components to its economic structure of course, they ultimately have a mixed economic system, to ultimately have something of a social market economy to combine both free-market capitalism with social policies and regulations to have both fair competition and the base of a welfare state. The example of housing policy is a perfect view into this, as of course there are for-profit companies that own units of housing, there are also many government owned housing companies that essentially help to create this notion of a welfare state to cater to all of the population.
André also touched a lot on the socialization of corporate-owned housing companies and properties in Berlin, with companies that own 3000 or more units having to ultimately sell these back to the government for compensation (below market price of course as they would be buying massive amounts of homes, so they need to take a discount). There was a referendum in 2021 where the citizens of Berlin passed this question of legislation over this issue, but it has ultimately been years since the referendum and they are still trying to figure out how the actual laws will be implemented and the logistics of the process. Since this is a huge acquisition and question to tackle, it is going to take years and years for lawmakers, lawyers, and others to figure out exactly how to enact this legislation and for the process to actually happen.
By placing an importance on the increase in social housing stock, Berlin is able to focus on the disparities in wealth because of German reunification and recent migration into the country, better providing affordable housing opportunities for these citizens, to ultimately help the city meet demand, grow, and flourish. By subsidizing new housing projects, there is going to be more social housing stock and housing for an increase in citizens that want to move into Berlin whether from the rest of the EU, other parts of the world, or past or future refugees or migrants that may want to enter the country. Finally, by having the socialization of large housing companies over 3000 units, Berlin is taking more control of their housing stock, ensuring that they can offer the right programs to citizens, keep rent prices low, and push out massive landlords squeezing every euro they can out of their renters. By having a more government-centered approach to housing and renting, citizens can have an easier time both price wise and also just in general with policy being easier to enact when owning a large portion of the housing.
This is a massive step in the road for both sustainable development and confronting disparities because of reunification and migration. André is doing amazing work by focusing on housing policy and I am very thankful that we got a chance to understand a LOT more about Berlin and the inner workings of its city politics, government, and the ultimate policy creation from it all!
