Call for Housing Action Day 2021
How do we want to live together?
For a city built in solidarity with one another!
Winter is still under the sign of the pandemic, but spring will soon begin.
Time for dreams and visions, time for protest and resistance. Let’s come together to fight for a city built on solidarity: Join us for Housing Action Day 2021 on March 27!
Exiting the crisis
A place to live in dignity and safety is the basic right of every human being. While those who have a place to live are able to stay at home, acting in solidarity to prevent the spread of the pandemic, many homeless people and refugees are scarcely able to protect themselves from the virus – neither on the street nor in mass accommodation. Domestic violence, particularly against wom*n, is increasing. While real estate corporations continue to secure high profits, renters experience job precarity or become unemployed. Already-exorbitant rents become unaffordable. Those who operate small businesses are also struggling to survive. While the state supports big business with recovery packages worth billions, the cultural scene is neglected during the lockdown, and spaces where people might come together are closed. Here, too, extreme insecurity is the rule. Jobs are destroyed. Spaces for inspiration and for social exchange are few and far between.
The crisis intensifies the social question and with it, the housing crisis. The gap between privileged and non-privileged people is widening. But we are not going to accept this. That’s why we demand:
1) Housing for all!
Accommodate the homeless, including refugees, in flats or hotels!
Stop vacancies! Legalize housing occupation!
More available space in wom*n’s housing!
Stop forced evictions, utility supply shut-downs, and rental contract terminations!
2) Cancel rental debt!
Secure housing, commercial spaces, the cultural scene, and social centres!
No subventions for high rents and financialized investors!
3) Lower the rents – redistribute profits!
Set a cap on rent levels!
Redirect profits made in times of crisis – use tax to overcome the COVID-19 crisis!
4) End land speculation – socialize private housing companies!
Housing and land should not be commodities!
Fighting together for a city built in solidarity
As our social environment, the city should reflect our needs. We need a city where the lives and happiness of the many are prioritized over the hunger for power and riches of the few.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there are clear alternatives to this situation. We support the “Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen!” (“Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.!”) campaign, which pushes for the socialization of real estate corporations. We also support the demand for a Germany-wide rental cap. We welcome the work of the Mietervereine (tenant advice associations) and support the expansion of renter’s councils and other forms of organization. We are on the side of all groups who fight for a city that is anti-racist, feminist, barrier-free, and works towards climate justice. We call out to bring our struggles together. Let’s network with one another, in order to shape this city together!
Beyond the housing question we ask ourselves: How do we want to live together?
In a city
… with the possibility for everyone to live as she/he wishes …
with a fair distribution of resources and fundamental rights secured …
with culture, respect, and spaces for our differences …
taking care for the fundamental basis of our existence …
Dream and create visions together to build a city in solidarity!
We’ll see each other at Housing Action Day 2021!
Aktionsbündnis gegen Verdrängung und Mietenwahnsinn