Linke on housing

The Left wants to use the Bundesrat to have a basic right to housing written into the constitution. It supports a nationwide rent cap in areas where housing is scarce and wants to reform the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake). People with low and middle incomes should have to spend less than 30 percent of income on housing.

The Left says housing is a basic right. This should be written into the constitution. Where homes are scarce, there should be a limit on rents. People with little money should not pay too much for housing. There should be more dorm rooms for students and trainees.

The state is to launch a Bundesrat initiative for a basic right to housing. Funding programs for social housing are to be reformed and made more attractive. Accessible, communal and multigenerational forms of housing are to be strengthened, and accessibility is to become a fixed part of training for planning professions. More dorm places are to be created for students and trainees, funded in part from the federal program "Junges Wohnen." A funding program is to support neighborhood sharing shelves and chat benches.

The Left wants to secure the finances of municipal and cooperative housing companies and prevent their sale to private owners. Land owned by the state and municipalities is to stay in public hands and be used for social housing. In the party's view, these companies ensure affordable housing over the long term.

Many homes belong to cities or cooperatives. The Left wants to protect these companies. They should not be sold to private firms. Land owned by the state and towns should not be sold either. Social housing should be built there.

Legacy debts of municipal housing companies are to be reduced. Land owned by the state and municipalities is not to be privatized but kept available for social housing. The party wants to examine whether the state should set up its own housing company. Municipalities are to get help when they introduce rent indexes.