Linke on housing

The Left wants to adopt a rent cap for the roughly 400,000 apartments owned by Berlin's state-owned housing companies. Rents would first be frozen for one year, and after that increases would be limited by law to one percent a year. The platform argues that many tenants can no longer afford the recent increases.

Berlin owns its own housing companies. The Left wants to limit rents there. For one year, no rent should go up. After that, rent may rise by only 1 percent a year. Very high rents should go down.

The cap would come by Senate decision within the first 100 days and bring a one-year rent freeze. After that, the Wohnraumversorgungsgesetz (housing supply act) would limit increases to no more than one percent a year. Rents more than 20 percent above the local reference rent would be lowered on request, and new leases would be priced 10 percent below the reference rent. Tenants would be told the features used to classify their apartment so they can check the rent index calculation. No more than 6 percent of modernization costs could be passed on, renovations should if possible not raise total rent including heating, and the hardship rule would apply there too.

The Left wants vacant apartments owned by the state housing companies to go primarily to households with a Wohnberechtigungsschein (certificate of eligibility for subsidized housing) and to homeless people. Evictions over rent arrears would no longer take place there. The platform says this is meant to keep people from being stuck in emergency shelters.

The Left wants to hand out the city's free apartments differently. People with little money should get them first. People without a home should also get more apartments. People who owe rent should not lose their home there.

Inside the S-Bahn ring, all apartments that become vacant would go to households holding an eligibility certificate up to level WBS 220; outside it, at least two-thirds of new leases would be especially low-priced. The Geschützter Wohnungsmarkt (a protected housing segment for people in need) would be doubled to 2,500 apartments a year. In addition, 10 percent of newly let or re-let state-owned and subsidized apartments would go to homeless people under rent and occupancy restrictions. The party wants to rule out evictions for rent arrears at the state companies and replace them with socially acceptable solutions.

The Left wants the state-owned housing companies to be easier to reach, to do work with their own staff again and to lower heating costs. Tenants would get more say, and more would be invested in the surroundings of large housing estates.

The Left wants better service in the city's apartments. There should be offices with fixed opening hours. The companies' own caretakers should do repairs again. Heating should cost less. Tenants should have more say.

Larger housing complexes would get customer centers with fixed opening hours, and appointments would be available within 48 hours. Heat contracting, meaning heat supplied by outside contractors, would end, the prices charged by subsidiaries would be reviewed and bills made easier to understand. Where heat meters are missing, heating costs would automatically drop by 15 percent, and tenants would be told about their consumption during the year. New guidelines for letting commercial space would be drawn up with tenant councils and advisory boards. In large estates, play areas, green spaces and common areas would be upgraded and the companies' own premises used for local shops and social services.

The Left wants to rule out sales from the holdings of the state-owned housing companies and write a ban on privatization into the state constitution. At the same time, the companies would build more and buy additional housing to raise the share of apartments run for the common good.

The Left does not want to sell any of the city's apartments. This ban should be written into Berlin's constitution. The city's housing companies should build more. They should also buy more apartments.

A municipal housing construction program would relieve the companies financially so that new construction is not paid for out of existing tenants' rents. Projects with good transport links and low environmental impact would get priority, infill development that does not fit the neighborhood would be stopped, and more buildings would get added floors. Purchase prices would have to reflect renovation needs. Berlinovo would become the seventh state housing company and provide apartments for groups such as students and seniors. Executive bonuses would depend on compliance with the cooperation agreement, non-profit goals would be written into law, and the party rejects greater reliance on bond financing.

The Left wants to implement the 2021 referendum "Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen" (expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.) and bring 220,000 apartments into public ownership. A socialization law is to be drafted on the basis of the initiative's own bill. The party calls this one of its top priorities and justifies it with the goal of affordable rents.

In 2021, Berlin held a public vote. Most voters wanted to take over big housing companies. The Left wants to do this now. 220,000 apartments would then belong to the city. A new law is needed for this.

The platform points out that 59.1 percent voted for the referendum in September 2021. Any coalition that includes the Left would be bound to draft a socialization law within the legislative term, following a timetable set in the coalition agreement. The initiative's draft bill would serve as the basis. The law is meant to break with private profit-making from housing and put the holdings under democratic control. The party rejects the framework law planned by the Senate and further expert reports as delays.

The Left wants to crack down on excessive rents and set up a task force with additional staff to do so. Tenants would get back rent they overpaid. According to the platform, housing offices currently lack the staff and effective procedures.

Some landlords charge too much rent. That is against the law. The Left wants stricter checks. A new team with more staff should do this. Tenants should get their money back.

The party cites its own rent gouging check, which it says more than 100,000 households in Berlin have used; over 4,000 cases are already with the housing offices. The procedure would be standardized across Berlin, modeled on the housing office in Frankfurt am Main. Fines and sanctions for excessive rents would be consistently enforced. For especially serious cases, the public prosecutor's office would get a dedicated unit within its main division for white-collar crime.

The Left wants to stop the temporary letting of furnished apartments and ban it in all Milieuschutzgebiete (neighborhood preservation areas). In the platform's view, furnishing lets landlords make higher profits.

Some landlords rent out apartments with furniture for a short time only. This way they charge more money. The Left wants to ban this. The ban should apply in specially protected neighborhoods.

The ban would apply in all of Berlin's Milieuschutzgebiete, areas where the existing resident population enjoys special protection. For new buildings, guidelines would be drawn up with the districts to rule out later furnished, fixed-term letting from the start. State-owned housing companies would not be allowed to use this business model. An exception applies to apartments for students and trainees if the rent stays below the BAföG housing allowance or the affordability limit for trainees.

The Left wants a comprehensive ban on vacation rentals in residential buildings and wants to shut down illegal listings. The platform argues that Berlin needs every affordable apartment and that tens of thousands of apartments are being misused.

In Berlin, many apartments are rented to tourists. Often this is not allowed. The Left wants to ban vacation rentals in residential buildings. The apartments should be for living in again.

According to the platform, tens of thousands of apartments are used as illegal vacation rentals and more than 40,000 stand empty. The party also criticizes that affordable housing is being torn down to build more expensive new units. It wants to pursue misuse of housing vigorously. The authorities would use digital tools for this.

The Left wants to detect and penalize speculative vacancies and have long-empty buildings repaired by official order. Squatting would no longer be a crime, and occupying housing that has been empty for at least a year could lead to a permanent right to live there.

Some homes in Berlin stay empty for a long time. The Left wants to find these homes and punish the owners. People should be allowed to squat in empty houses without punishment. If a home was empty for a year, squatters may stay.

Vacancies would be detected through electricity use; this meter-based method would be written into law, in cooperation with power suppliers. For so-called ghost houses, the Left wants to make it easier for authorities to carry out repairs in the owner's place (Ersatzvornahme) and to appoint trustees. Districts would receive enough extra money to cover the costs, and the state-owned housing companies would carry out the work. The Berliner Linie, the policy of quickly clearing squatted buildings, would be replaced by a vacancy law. A squatter's right to stay would lapse only if owners make a binding commitment to offer the housing at socially acceptable rents within a limited period.

The Left calls for a halt to demolishing affordable housing. Demolition would be allowed only in narrowly defined exceptions because, according to the platform, hundreds of low-cost apartments are lost every year.

Every year, cheap homes in Berlin are torn down. The Left wants to ban this in almost all cases. Only a few exceptions should be allowed. Half of the homes in the new building must then be cheap.

Exceptions to the demolition ban would have to be justified on social and environmental grounds and be narrowly defined. Where demolition and new construction do go ahead, at least half of the new apartments would have to be rented at socially acceptable rents. The platform justifies the demand by pointing to the loss of hundreds of affordable apartments each year.

The Left wants to use digital tools to search the housing market for illegal rental offers and to equip agencies to investigate. It also wants apartment hunting moved from private platforms such as ImmobilienScout24 into public hands; the platform accuses these companies of profiting from apartment seekers and pushing rents up.

The Left wants to check rental ads with computer programs. This should help offices find illegal offers. Looking for a home should no longer run through private websites. The city should offer the search itself.

The so-called Mietenscan (rent scan) is meant to make unlawful listings visible; agencies would be able to investigate suspected cases and secure evidence that holds up in court. The platform argues that data from the listing sites feeds into Berlin's official rent index and thereby drives rent levels up. A public instrument for apartment searches is meant to catch and block unlawful rents at the listing stage.

The Left wants stronger protection against termination: landlords could claim a home for personal use only for first-degree relatives, and more hardship cases would rule out a termination. Converting rental apartments into condominiums would be permanently barred, and districts would assist with forced evictions only to a minimal extent.

Landlords can end a lease if they need the home themselves. The Left wants to allow this only for parents and children. Old people, sick people and families should get more protection. Rental homes should no longer be turned into homes for sale.

Through the Bundesrat, the Left wants to change the law on owner-occupancy terminations nationwide; the platform names older people, the sick and families with children as hardship cases. The conversion restriction in Section 250 of the Federal Building Code would apply without a time limit. Court officers would deliver eviction suits in person and point to available help, and courts would regularly publish figures on terminations and evictions. A statewide database on owner-occupancy terminations and a public register on conversions and protection periods are planned. State-owned housing companies would hold apartments in reserve for evicted tenants, and the Left wants a legal review of whether affected people can be assigned back into apartments.

The Left wants a law requiring large landlords to rent a fixed share of the apartments that become vacant to low- and middle-income households at capped rents. A new state office for tenant protection would enforce this and collect data on owners.

Large landlords should have to rent out part of their free homes cheaply. A new law should set this rule. The more homes a landlord owns, the bigger the share. A new office should check this.

For landlords with 50 to 500 units, every third new rental would have to be affordable; for 501 to 1,000 units, 40 percent; above that, every second one. Rent levels would be based on those in social housing. The largest landlords would also have to give one tenth of these apartments to people in acute housing need, such as those in homeless shelters or women's shelters. The platform expects about 17,000 affordably rented apartments a year and points to 1.16 million eligible households versus fewer than 100,000 social housing units. Owners would have to report data to the state office; later this would grow into a public housing and rent register listing owners, rents, fittings, location and energy condition.

The Left wants to expand free tenancy-law counseling in the districts and reverse funding cuts. Applications for Wohngeld (housing benefit) and the Wohnberechtigungsschein (WBS, a certificate of eligibility for subsidized housing) would be processed faster, with a guaranteed two-week deadline for the WBS.

The Left wants more free advice for renters. Requests for housing benefit should be done faster. The WBS is a paper you need for subsidized homes. People should get this paper within two weeks.

Counseling would get more locations, longer opening hours and outreach services; all households would be informed by mail. For Wohngeld, where the platform says the average wait is eleven weeks, it plans more efficient procedures, more staff and a review of a simpler application process. WBS processing would be centralized in the state office for tenant protection, and the certificate would be valid for two years. When a specific apartment offer is on the table, an emergency WBS would be issued within 48 hours. Shared apartments would also be able to apply for a WBS in the future, and an expert commission would propose further simplifications.

The Left wants to create two funds: one providing grants toward heating costs for low-income households and one offering interest-free loans for rental deposits. The platform cites high back payments for heating and deposits running to several thousand euros.

Many people cannot pay for heating. The Left wants to help them with money from a fund. A fund is a pot of money for one purpose. A second fund should lend money for the rental deposit, with no interest.

The heating fund is modeled on Munich, where eligible households can apply for 700 euros if they live alone and 300 euros if they share a home. District tenant counseling offices would add targeted advice on heating, partly because the platform accuses landlords and energy suppliers of faulty bills. The deposit fund is aimed at people with low and middle incomes and follows the example of other cities. Help with the deposit would be granted as a loan without interest.

The Left wants to reduce discrimination in how apartments are allocated and to give single parents reliable access to suitable housing. According to the platform, women, trans and gender-diverse people, single parents and people with a migration background are hit especially hard by housing shortages and discrimination.

Some people have a harder time getting a home than others. This affects single parents and people with migrant roots, for example. The Left wants to change that. Housing applications should be checked without names.

At the state-owned housing companies, anonymized monitoring would make unequal allocation practices visible. Stricter checks and anonymized application procedures are planned there and in subsidized projects. For rentals requiring a WBS, eat-in kitchens would not count as full rooms; standards would ensure enough separate rooms for adults and children. Low-income single parents would be given strong priority for state-owned and subsidized apartments.

The Left wants to launch a construction program for student and trainee housing. It also plans to push at the federal level for BAföG (student aid) that does not depend on parental income and for affordable transit. In the party's view, housing costs must not push young people into poverty.

The Left wants to build more dorms. Students and trainees should live there. Student aid should no longer depend on what parents earn. Buses and trains should be affordable for students too.

The dorm program would be funded through expanded credit, public grants and the conversion of existing buildings. The state-owned housing companies would be asked to set aside more apartments for students. The federal program "Junges Wohnen" should also be usable for renovating dorms. On BAföG, the party wants many more people to qualify, no loss of eligibility when someone changes majors, and recognition of high housing costs in big cities. For mobility, the program mentions a socially fair semester ticket.

The Left wants to subsidize senior-friendly apartment conversions and tie that funding to rent caps and allocation rules. Older tenants would also be protected from owner-occupancy terminations and evictions. The goal is for everyone to live safely, independently and socially connected in old age.

The Left wants apartments to be rebuilt for older people. Rents should stay affordable. Landlords should not end leases of seniors to move in themselves. Seniors should not be evicted. There should also be help against loneliness.

A new funding program would pay for senior-friendly conversions and create rent and allocation restrictions in return. The state-owned housing companies would hire loneliness officers who visit older tenants at home and organize neighborhood activities. The state-owned company Berlinovo would build up a care-housing segment as a cheaper alternative to private care facilities. Through the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states), the party wants to rule out owner-occupancy terminations against seniors and ban their eviction. District housing offices would hold regular on-site sessions in large estates to advise on and take applications for housing benefits.

The Left wants to make swapping apartments much easier so that existing housing better fits people's life situations. At the state-owned housing companies (LWU), tenants would keep their previous rent per square meter after a swap. At the federal level, the party seeks a legal right to swap apartments.

Some people have an apartment that is too big. Others have one that is too small. The Left wants to make swapping apartments easier. The rent per square meter should stay the same after a swap. People who move in together should get money.

For swaps within the LWU, rent changes would be allowed only moderately and only if the quality of the apartment differs noticeably; the companies would cover reasonable moving costs and set up moving support. The state would offset lost revenue for the LWU with equity injections. The existing swap portal would be evaluated and improved, and the party is considering a legal duty for private housing companies to offer swaps. A state program called "Mehr-Generationen-Wohnen" would pay a bonus covering moving, renovation and startup costs to households that voluntarily move in together. A housing agency would advise and broker, including for owners of one- and two-family homes. Through the Bundesrat, the party calls for tenants to be able to enter each other's leases, plus federal moving aid for low-income households.

The Left wants an action program to renovate and upgrade Berlin's 24 large housing estates without raising rents. According to the party, the estates should become more social, cleaner and safer.

Berlin has 24 large housing estates. The Left wants to renovate the apartments there. Rents should not go up. There should be more green space, sports areas and lighting. The estates should be cleaner.

The program "Schöner wohnen im Quartier" would improve green spaces, expand sports areas and neighborhood services, and provide better lighting. Regular neighborhood days for bulky waste and cleanup drives by the city sanitation service BSR are meant to improve cleanliness. Inclusive and intercultural participation formats would strengthen community life and volunteering. The party points to neglected outdoor areas, litter, poor lighting and a lack of social infrastructure.

The Left wants to stop the loss of social housing with a package of new construction, bringing housing back into public ownership, and regulation. According to the program, Berlin has lost nearly 120,000 social housing units since 2021 because restrictions expired; the party fears rent hikes and displacement.

Berlin has lost many social housing units. These are cheap apartments for people with little money. The Left wants to stop this with a rescue program. The city should build and buy apartments. Large housing corporations should belong to the public.

The program includes a municipal construction program, the socialization of large housing corporations and a law called the Sicher-Wohnen-Gesetz. The state-owned housing companies would allocate a larger share of re-let apartments on social terms, and cooperative land development rules would be revised. The state-owned companies would also buy housing stock whose social restrictions are about to end. A funding program would make it possible to extend expiring restrictions.

The Left wants to use the Bundesrat to achieve a nationwide rent cap, including for commercial rents. It also calls for restoring the municipal right of first refusal and banning share deals. In the party's view, many problems of Berlin's housing market can only be solved at the federal level.

The Left wants a rent cap for all of Germany. A rent cap is a fixed limit on rents. It should also apply to shops and small businesses. The city should again be allowed to buy buildings before other buyers. Certain tax tricks in property sales should be banned.

The cap on commercial rents is meant to protect small craft businesses, daycare centers, late-night corner shops and clubs from displacement. Regardless of federal action, the party wants to use all proven methods in Berlin's rent index to leave as little room as possible for rent increases. The right of first refusal would apply again at prices that allow public-interest renting. Share deals, through which, according to the program, companies such as Vonovia avoid billions in taxes, would be prohibited.

The Left wants to give the state-owned housing companies up to 2 billion euros in equity each year so they can build 7,500 permanently affordable apartments annually. Rents in existing apartments are not supposed to rise as a result. In the party's view, too little is being built so far, at too high a cost, and of the wrong kind.

The Left wants the city itself to build more apartments. 7,500 new apartments should be built every year. The state gives up to 2 billion euros a year for this. Rent should be between 6 and 12 euros per square meter. It depends on income.

Rents in the new buildings would be scaled by income between 6 and 12 euros per square meter, and two-thirds of Berlin households would qualify. A joint planning subsidiary, joint tenders, serially manufactured components and cost monitoring modeled on Hamburg are meant to lower costs. In the medium term, a municipal construction enterprise would be set up that also handles renovations and builds schools, daycare centers and administrative buildings. The plan includes a minimum quota for ecological and renewable building materials and the EH40 efficiency standard as a target. A steering and planning unit in the Senate administration would continuously analyze demand, create building rights on public land and speed up planning.

The Left wants to tighten the cooperative land development rules through which Berlin obliges private developers to build affordable housing. Instead of 30 percent temporary social housing, at least two-thirds of the floor area would be rent- and allocation-restricted. According to the program, private companies build affordably only under such obligations.

Private companies must build cheap apartments in some projects. So far that share is 30 percent. The Left wants to raise it to at least two-thirds. The party says private companies hardly build cheap apartments without a duty.

Half of the restricted apartments would be built under the first funding tier, meaning for low-income households. As an alternative, the program mentions handing over half of the building area at its value before planning permission. The party is following the example of rules in other cities.

The Left wants to sharply reduce public subsidies for private housing projects. Subsidized apartments would stay under rent and occupancy restrictions for at least 50 years, following Hamburg's example.

The Left wants to give private builders less public money. Subsidized apartments should stay cheap for longer. The rules should apply for at least 50 years. Hamburg already does this.

The platform calls for a noticeable cut in subsidies for privately built housing. The period during which subsidized apartments remain bound by social housing rules would rise to at least 50 years. The Left cites Hamburg as the model. The focus would shift to a municipal housing construction program through which the state builds permanently affordable apartments.

The Left wants to speed up planning and construction by adding staff in the boroughs, digitizing processes and involving the public early. It rejects the "Schneller-Bauen-Gesetz" (faster building act) and the federal "Bau-Turbo" because, in its view, they weaken democratic, social and environmental standards. The federal rules would be used in Berlin only under strict conditions.

The Left wants building to go faster. The boroughs should get more staff. Processes should become digital. People should have a say early on. The Left thinks the federal fast-track rules are wrong. It wants to use them only with strict limits.

According to the platform, early and genuine participation is meant to prevent years of disputes and lawsuits. When the new federal rules are applied, the state parliament and the borough assemblies would keep the final say. Projects would have to fit local development goals and comply with Berlin's cooperative land development rules. They would also have to take local social infrastructure into account. No departures from climate and environmental standards would be allowed.

The Left rejects the Senate's current plans for an international building exhibition. It would be open to one if conversion and renovation take priority and new housing is built to stay affordable by non-profit-oriented providers.

The Senate plans a big building exhibition. The Left rejects these plans. It wants an exhibition only with clear rules. Old buildings should be converted, not torn down. New apartments should stay cheap for good.

In the platform's view, an international building exhibition can be an opportunity if it pursues an innovative concept for an affordable, livable and climate-friendly city. The Left names priority for conversion and renovation over demolition and new construction as a core principle. New buildings should be developed by state-owned housing companies, cooperatives, foundations or the Mietshäusersyndikat (a tenant-run housing network) and stay permanently affordable for broad parts of the population. Because the Senate's plans lack these requirements, the party rejects them.

The Left wants to strengthen housing cooperatives with more funding, better access to state-owned land and a new commissioner for cooperatives. Funding would in the future depend on a provider's purpose rather than its legal form, so that small cooperatives and groups like the Mietshäusersyndikat also benefit.

Cooperatives are groups that own housing together. The Left wants to give them more money. They should get state land more easily. Small groups should also be able to get funding. A new contact person should look after cooperatives.

The platform points to about 200,000 cooperative apartments, which the Left says hold down rents across the market. Funding criteria would be expanded to include self-management, member participation and a permanent ban on privatization. The Investitionsbank Berlin (the state development bank) would accept ground lease contracts and subordinated loans as equity and change its rules so small providers can draw funds. State-owned land would be leased on terms based on the income that low-cost apartments can generate. In new neighborhoods, plots would be reserved for cooperatives, tender procedures simplified and advisory services for communal housing projects strengthened.

The Left wants to largely prevent the demolition of office and commercial buildings through the building code and convert more vacant space into affordable apartments. It justifies this with climate protection and the high vacancy rate.

Many offices in Berlin are empty. The Left wants to turn them into cheap apartments. Tearing down such buildings should rarely be allowed. The state should help pay for conversions. The Left says this also helps the climate.

According to the platform, millions of square meters of office and commercial space are vacant while the potential for conversion has barely been used. An amendment to the building code would largely rule out demolishing such space. The Left wants to draw up plans for converting it into affordable housing. A state funding program would tie conversions to rent caps and occupancy restrictions.

The Left wants new zoning plans (Bebauungspläne) to meet strict social, environmental, and urban-design standards. At the federal level, Berlin is to push for permanent "sectoral" zoning plans, which allow quotas for subsidized housing in areas that currently have no zoning plan.

A zoning plan says what can be built on a piece of land. The Left wants strict rules for these plans. The plans should be social and protect nature. They should also say how many low-cost homes must be built. The city districts should get more staff and money for this work.

The 1958/60 land-use plan that still applies in former West Berlin, which the program calls outdated, is to be replaced step by step with new zoning plans. Green spaces listed in the landscape program are to be legally secured through planning law. Districts are to get more staff and funding to draw up plans. Zoning plans are also to be used to protect cultural and social facilities, and anti-discrimination guidelines are to become binding in planning. Trailer sites and houseboats are to be preserved, and a development plan for former East German garage lots is to be drawn up with input from residents and garage owners.

The Left wants to prioritize new city districts, especially on state-owned land, over adding buildings in existing neighborhoods. On public land, all new housing could be rent- and occupancy-controlled; on private land, either half the area would go to the state or two-thirds of the floor space would be controlled.

The Left wants to build new city districts faster. Many low-cost homes should be built there. On city land, all new homes could be low-cost. Private builders should hand half of their land to Berlin. Or they build two-thirds of the homes with fixed low rents.

Districts with high potential, such as the Schumacher Quartier on the former Tegel airport, are to be built especially quickly. All new districts are to meet criteria covering transport access, land-saving construction, civic participation, and community rooms. The party rejects districts on valuable natural areas such as moors or on allotment gardens, and it rules out selling public land. Public transit links are to come first, and the housing construction targets are to be recalculated. Housing for students and trainees is to be fixed in the zoning plan, and social infrastructure is to keep pace with population change in the districts.

The Left wants to shape Berlin's historic center and City West as public spaces with plenty of culture and little commercial use. The Central and State Library is to move into the Galeria department store at Alexanderplatz, and the Molkenmarkt is to get affordable housing and low-cost cultural spaces. The party rejects demolition and large new buildings at the Galeria sites on Hermannplatz and Ku'damm.

The Left wants Berlin's center to be a place for everyone. There should be fewer shops and more culture. The big state library should move into the department store at Alexanderplatz. Low-cost homes should be built at Molkenmarkt. The department stores at Hermannplatz and Ku'damm should stay.

The climate-resilient redesign of the Rathausforum and Marx-Engels-Forum is to be completed. At the foot of the TV tower, public uses without consumption are to predominate, and the library rooms in the Galeria building are to pass into state ownership in the long run. At Molkenmarkt, state-owned plots are to be developed only by state-owned housing companies, and the ruin of the Klosterkirche is to remain a place of art and remembrance. For the Bauakademie site, the party wants a new building chosen by open competition and meeting ecological standards. For City West, it plans a new master plan focused on the common good and more non-commercial offerings.

The Left opposes making it easier to plan and build high-rises for offices or expensive apartments and wants to revise the city's high-rise guidelines. Its reasoning is that high construction costs mean high-rises usually do not produce affordable housing.

The Left wants fewer new high-rise buildings in Berlin. High-rises cost a lot to build. So they usually do not offer low-cost homes. The rules for high-rises should become stricter. The party rejects a planned very tall building in Friedrichshain.

The party does not share Governing Mayor Kai Wegner's idea of a striking skyline. Views of the TV tower from the main avenues leading to Alexanderplatz are to be kept clear. In City West, between Zoo, Breitscheidplatz, and Ku'damm, the party wants development based on existing buildings rather than dense high-rise construction. It rejects the planned 167-meter tower in the Rudolfkiez neighborhood of Friedrichshain.

The Left wants to stop granting building rights for new office complexes, because the program says about 2.2 million square meters of office space stand empty in Berlin. Instead, vacant office buildings are to be converted, supported by federal funds and a new state funding program.

Many offices in Berlin are empty. New office buildings are still being built. The Left wants to stop this. Empty offices should be used in other ways. Federal and state money should pay for that. Owners who leave offices empty should face penalties.

Refusing new building rights is meant to prevent more ground from being sealed and to keep land available for other uses. At the federal level, the party calls for a law against misuse of commercial space so that vacancy can be penalized. For this reason it will not approve the zoning plans for the Urbane Mitte project at Gleisdreieck.

The Left wants to favor adding floors, conversions, and renovation over land-intensive new construction. Demolitions would require a permit under strict criteria, and tearing down intact buildings would be banned. A registry is to record vacant properties systematically.

The Left prefers to convert old buildings instead of building new ones. No one should be allowed to tear down good buildings. Every demolition should need a permit. A list should show which buildings are empty. The former sports center SEZ should be kept.

Different uses are to be stacked on top of each other, such as apartments above supermarkets, to save land. The permit requirement for demolitions is to come through a change to the building code. The party wants to keep the Sport- und Erholungszentrum (SEZ) permanently; a feasibility study by the Senate and the district is to show options for full or partial preservation as a social and sports facility, alongside a new school and housing on the site. State-owned housing companies are to build modular, flexible apartments that can adapt to changing needs.

Together with the districts, the Left wants to review all infill projects by state-owned housing companies that have not yet been built. Urban-design criteria are to apply to future projects, and residents are to have more say. Projects that have not gone through such a process would be put on hold until they do.

Infill means building on open space inside an existing neighborhood. The Left wants to check such plans by the city's housing companies. People living nearby should have more say. Some projects should pause until then. A public list should show empty building plots.

Where participation has not yet taken place, it is to be made up, and the project is suspended under a moratorium until then. A publicly accessible registry of vacant lots is to make unused land visible. In addition, the state and its companies are to hold open, participatory architecture and urban-design competitions more often. Contract awards are to give smaller and regional firms a fair chance as well.

The Left wants to treat land as a public good and to keep and enlarge the state's holdings. A land protection law (Bodensicherungsgesetz) is to pool all land and buildings owned by the state and its companies into a Berlin land fund and prohibit their sale in principle. Ground-lease rates for cooperatives and public-interest housing are to drop substantially.

The Left wants Berlin to keep its land. The city should even buy more land. A new law should forbid selling city land. Housing cooperatives should pay less for leased land. This should keep rents low. A council of citizens should have a say in land policy.

Three principles are to apply to the land fund: a public registry, transparent awards under parliamentary oversight with a land advisory council involved, and the general ban on sales. The state property manager Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH (BIM) is to be reoriented toward supporting public-interest projects, and a task force is to adapt award procedures to those groups' needs. For state-owned land used for public purposes, public benefit rather than market rents or land value is to be decisive. Where regulation or purchase is not possible, the party wants to tax land ownership more heavily.

The Left wants to reorient homelessness policy around the Housing First principle: a home of one's own comes first, then other problems are tackled. The strategy conference on homelessness services is to become a permanent body again.

The Left wants to end homelessness. People without a home should get an apartment first. After that they can solve other problems. Agencies, charities and affected people should work together regularly.

According to the program, Housing First means a homeless person gets an apartment once the job center or social welfare office guarantees the rent. A home is described as the precondition for dealing with health and work problems. The strategy conference, where the state, the districts, welfare organizations and homeless people's own groups cooperate, is to meet permanently again and speed up the reduction of homelessness by 2030. It is to grow into a broad alliance including health services, volunteers and neighborhoods. The focus is on fast help with little red tape, housing and work.

The Left wants binding quotas for allocating apartments. Ten percent of newly let or re-let state-owned and subsidized apartments are to go to homeless people. Large private landlords are also to be bound by law to such a quota.

The Left wants to set aside apartments for people without a home. One in ten state-owned apartments that become free should go to them. Large private landlords should have to do this too. Homeless families should come first.

For people holding a Wohnberechtigungsschein (certificate of eligibility for subsidized housing), higher and binding letting quotas are to apply to state-owned and publicly subsidized apartments. Ten percent of newly let or re-let units in these stocks are to go to homeless people, with rent and occupancy restrictions. A Sicher-Wohnen-Gesetz (secure housing act) is to require large private landlords to let ten percent of their affordable apartments to people in acute housing need. The protected housing segment, in which apartments are reserved for homeless people, is to grow. A quota for families is planned there, and state-owned and large commercial landlords are to be required to provide larger apartments as well.

The Left rejects evictions that leave people without a home and wants to ban state-owned housing companies from carrying them out. District support offices are to be strengthened so that tenants at risk get help early.

Some people are forced out of their apartment and end up on the street. The Left wants to stop that. The state's housing companies should no longer be allowed to do it. Affected people should get advice early.

The districts' housing assistance offices are to get more staff and better digital procedures. The so-called Section 67 assistance, meaning help for people in particular social difficulties, is to be strengthened; access barriers are to be removed, including for people with several problems at once. The Left wants to revive a pilot project of the justice administration: people facing eviction are served the lawsuit in person and are counseled and referred to help at that point. State-owned companies are to be barred from evictions that lead to homelessness.

The Left wants to significantly raise the share of accessible and low-barrier apartments in Berlin. Public money should only flow where accessibility is ensured, and a central office should match suitable apartments with people who need them.

The Left wants more homes without barriers. These homes are called accessible. Public money should only go to accessible building. A new office should help people find these homes. The homes should go to people who need them.

The core is an investment push for social and public-interest housing that includes accessible and inclusive housing from the start. Public investments, funding programs and contracts are to be tied to accessibility. A central placement office is meant to ensure that existing accessible apartments reach people with a matching need. Urban development and building policy should aim for inclusive neighborhoods following the "design for all" principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Left wants to cap rents in student dormitories and support a youth housing agency for Berlin. The student services organization and a new counterpart for apprentices would be allowed to borrow so they can build and renovate themselves. In addition, the free public transit ticket for school students, apprentices, volunteer service participants and care leavers would become permanent.

Young people often have too little money for rent. The Left wants to limit rents in student dorms. The student services organization should be able to build housing itself. School students and apprentices should ride buses and trains for free for good.

A Sicher-Wohnen-Gesetz (secure housing law) would require quotas for housing emergencies. These include care leavers, meaning young people moving from youth welfare or a foster family into their own home. More places in supervised housing and youth residential groups are planned. A program would use financial incentives to encourage older people to take in young people looking for housing. Social service providers would support these living arrangements and mediate in conflicts.

The Left wants to close large collective shelters such as the one in Tegel and house refugees in apartments or, as a transition, in smaller decentralized accommodation. To that end, rental quotas are to rise and the housing eligibility certificate is to cover all refugees.

Refugees should not live in huge shelters. The shelter in Tegel should close. Refugees should get their own apartments. More low-cost apartments should be rented to them.

State-owned and subsidized apartments are to go in higher, binding shares to people holding a Wohnberechtigungsschein (housing eligibility certificate); ten percent of new and re-lettings are earmarked for homeless people. Refugees should get the certificate no matter how long their residence permit is valid. Cooperation agreements with state-owned housing companies and pilot projects such as "Wohnen statt MUF" in Marzahn are meant to move more people from shelters into apartments. A solidarity fund is to enable moves into cooperative housing. The AV Wohnen rules are to allow renting when the rent is below the cost of a shelter place, and housing-search counseling is to be expanded.

The Left wants to require investors in large housing projects to build publicly accessible outdoor sports areas. New city districts are to be planned with enough indoor and outdoor sports facilities and a swimming pool. In the party's view, sports and housing construction should not be pitted against each other.

Anyone who builds many new homes should also have to build sports areas. These areas should be open and free for everyone. New city districts should get a swimming pool. If a sports site is removed, a replacement should be built nearby.

As examples of the required areas, the platform names soccer pitches, calisthenics equipment and skate elements. The Left wants to review and adjust plans for future districts; each school should have at least one competition-grade large field with a service building, and each district a pool suitable for sports. Every sports facility that is given up should be replaced, ideally close by. Large new developments would have to be checked for shared or public pool use. State-owned rooftops are to be assessed for use as sports areas, and a pilot project would combine a rooftop pool on a large housing complex with social infrastructure.