What do the parties in Berlin say on housing?

The AfD wants subsidized housing to go first to people who were born in Berlin or have lived there for many years. A points system would govern allocation, and a special building law for locals would be created. The platform argues that long-term Berliners are at a disadvantage when looking for housing.

The AfD wants subsidized homes to go to Berliners first. That means people born in Berlin or living there for a long time. A points system would decide who gets a home. Building homes for locals would also become easier.

The AfD wants to boost rental housing construction through less regulation and relies on private housing companies to do so. It rejects expropriation and wants to scale back Milieuschutz (neighborhood preservation zones). In the platform's view, a large housing supply is the best way to keep rents down.

The AfD wants fewer rules for building homes. Private companies should build more rental homes. The AfD is against expropriating housing companies. Expropriation means the state takes property away from its owner. Rules that protect existing neighborhoods should also be less strict.

The AfD wants to pay rent subsidies to people who hold a housing entitlement certificate so they can find an apartment on the open market. It thus favors supporting people rather than buildings. Those who live in social housing without being in need would again pay a levy.

The AfD wants to pay money for rent directly to people. This is for people with a housing entitlement certificate. They could then rent a home themselves. People who are no longer poor but live in social housing would pay extra.

The AfD wants tenants to see every cost component in their heating bill and be able to compare providers. State-owned housing companies would have to buy energy in a way that shields tenants from short-term exchange prices. The platform points to high back payments whose causes tenants cannot trace.

The AfD wants clear bills for heating costs. Tenants should see all costs in detail. The state's housing companies should buy energy differently. High back payments should have a limit.

The AfD wants to help more Berliners own their homes, with public loan guarantees and an exemption from the real estate transfer tax for a first owner-occupied purchase. Investors based outside the euro area would instead pay 20 percent. Housing cooperatives would also get more support.

The AfD wants more Berliners to own their home. The state should help with a loan guarantee. A guarantee means the state backs the loan. A tax should be dropped for the first purchase. Housing cooperatives should get more help too.

The AfD wants to speed up building permits by slimming down Berlin's building code. Insulation requirements would return to the level of the early 2000s because, in the platform's view, cost and effort outweigh the benefit. It rejects new state-level duties such as retrofitting solar panels.

The AfD wants building in Berlin to go faster. There should be fewer building rules. Houses would need less insulation. The AfD is against a duty to add solar panels to old houses.

The AfD wants to preserve inner-city allotment gardens permanently and secure them legally. Weekend settlements would also be protected. Citing growing social hardship, it wants their users to be allowed to live there year-round for a limited period.

The AfD wants to keep the allotment gardens in Berlin. Zoning plans should protect the gardens. Weekend settlements should stay too. People should be allowed to live there full-time for 20 years.

The CDU wants existing tenant rights enforced more consistently and the rent review office (Mietpreisprüfstelle) expanded into a body that also penalizes violations. In the program's view, strong tenant protection mainly means enforcing current law.

The CDU wants to protect renters better. Berlin has a rent review office. It checks if rents are legal. This office should get more staff. It should also punish violations.

The CDU rejects socializing large housing companies and introducing a rent freeze (Mietendeckel). In its view, such measures would deter investment, block new construction and disadvantage people looking for housing. It prefers more construction and tenant protection instead.

The CDU is against taking over housing companies. It is also against a rent freeze. That is a fixed upper limit on rents. The CDU says this means less building. It wants to build more homes instead.

The CDU wants binding rules for subletting in tight housing markets and better protection of subtenants against main tenants. The aim is to prevent abuse and increase transparency.

Some people rent from another renter. They are called subtenants. The CDU wants to protect them better. There should be clear rules. They should learn what the main renter pays.

The CDU wants social housing to go specifically to those in need. For new leases, tenants' incomes are to be checked regularly, and those exceeding the limits would pay a rent surcharge.

Social housing should go to people who need it. The CDU wants to check renters' incomes regularly. People who earn too much pay more rent. The money should pay for new social housing.

The CDU wants to promote first-time purchases of owner-occupied homes, especially for families. It plans a grant, a rent-to-own model for state-owned apartments and a sharp cut in the real estate transfer tax. The program sees ownership as a path to upward mobility and retirement security.

The CDU wants more people to buy their own home. First-time buyers should get money. Each adult gets 10,000 euros. Each child gets 5,000 euros. The tax on buying a home should also go down.

The CDU wants allocation of state-owned apartments to aim more at a social mix in neighborhoods. It considers today's focus on households receiving welfare benefits unsustainable. It also wants to promote apartment swaps and family housing.

The CDU wants mixed neighborhoods. State-owned apartments should go to many kinds of people. Families with two incomes should also have a chance. Older people should be able to move to smaller homes. Then big apartments become free for families.

The CDU wants to expand the public-interest housing sector and specifically support cooperatives, church-run providers and foundations. The target is at least 1,000 new cooperative apartments per year. Joining a cooperative is also to become cheaper.

Housing cooperatives are owned by their members together. The CDU wants to support them more. At least 1,000 new homes should be built each year. Buying shares in a cooperative should cost less.

The CDU wants a housing offensive to create 100,000 new homes by 2031. It plans a standardized Berlin apartment building type, shorter procedures and limiting environmental, species-protection and heritage rules to the legally required minimum.

The CDU wants 100,000 new homes by 2031. Berlin should have a standard building design. These buildings should get permits faster. Applications should go digital. Rules for nature and old buildings should not be stricter than needed.

The CDU wants to expand the stock of Berlin's state-owned housing companies to 500,000 apartments. The companies are to receive additional equity and a reliable framework.

Berlin owns its own housing companies. They should own 500,000 apartments in the future. The state should give them more money. They should use it to build and renovate.

The CDU wants to develop the edges of Tempelhofer Feld, the former airport field, with more than 20,000 homes. The open space itself is to remain a place for sports, leisure, culture and recreation and be further developed.

The CDU wants to build on the edges of Tempelhofer Feld. More than 20,000 homes would go there. About 50,000 people could live there. The big open field in the middle stays. People can still use it for sports and relaxing.

The Greens want far more buildings to be retrofitted for energy efficiency without tenants being pushed out. A tiered model would require owners to start with the buildings in the worst energy condition and would cap more tightly what can be passed on to rents. Costs are to be shared fairly among landlords, the public sector and tenants.

The Greens want more buildings to be renovated. The buildings then need less energy for heating. Owners should have to start with the worst buildings. Rents should not rise as much because of this. No one should lose their home because of it.

The Greens want to enforce the right to adequate housing in Berlin's state constitution and use all of the state's lawmaking powers to do so. The focus is mainly on large, profit-driven housing companies. In the long run, most of the housing market is to serve the common good, following Vienna's example.

Everyone in Berlin should have a suitable home. The Greens want to protect renters better. For example, from very high rents and from eviction. Big housing companies above all should follow strict rules. The city should keep its land and not sell it.

The Greens want a law requiring landlords with more than 50 units to offer a share of their apartments at affordable rents and to set aside money for maintenance. Violations would lead to trustees being appointed and profits being skimmed off. Landlords who repeatedly refuse to comply would have to sell their apartments.

The Greens want a new law for big landlords. It applies to those with more than 50 apartments. They must rent out some apartments at low prices. They must also save money for repairs. Those who break the rules face tough penalties.

The Greens want to keep pushing forward the referendum "Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen" (expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.) and to support the initiative behind it. The platform considers socializing large housing portfolios legally possible and affordable. It accuses the outgoing government of stalling implementation.

Berliners voted to take over big housing companies. The Greens want to carry out this vote. They support the group behind it. The party says this is legally possible. It also says Berlin can pay for it.

The Greens want to tighten and better enforce the ban on misusing housing for other purposes. Misuse would carry a minimum fine of 50,000 euros, and housing left empty for six months could be placed under compulsory administration. Neighborhood preservation zones (Milieuschutz) would also be expanded.

Apartments should be for living in. The Greens want to stop illegal vacation rentals. The fine should be at least 50,000 euros. If an apartment stays empty for six months, the state can manage it. In the end, it can become public property.

The Greens want a general ban on demolishing apartment buildings, along with monitoring of demolitions. At the same time, converting existing buildings into housing would become easier. A funding program is meant to boost the conversion of offices into apartments.

The Greens want to ban tearing down apartment buildings. They say buildings are often torn down to build costly new ones. Converting old buildings should become easier. Offices should become apartments. There should be public money for this.

The Greens want to set up a purchasing agency for apartments converted into condos and to have authorities review evictions for the owner's personal use. A central register and a cross-check with resident registration data are meant to expose false claims. Tenant counseling and rent checks would be expanded.

Some landlords end a lease because they want to move in themselves. The Greens want to check this more closely. An office should record all such cases. Berlin should also buy apartments so tenants can stay. Tenants should get more free advice.

The Greens want to support housing cooperatives more strongly instead of subsidizing home purchases. People with low and middle incomes would get help buying cooperative shares. A "Genossenschaftspakt Berlin" (cooperative pact) would address red tape, financing and access to land.

A cooperative belongs to its members. People who live there have a secure home. The Greens want to give cooperatives more support. People with little money should get help buying shares. Berlin should also provide land to cooperatives.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for a reform of tenancy law and the Federal Building Code. Key elements are a rent cap, a permanent rent brake with penalties, and a ban on new inflation-indexed leases. The way land reference values are calculated and anti-discrimination rules in housing would also change.

Many rent rules are made at the national level. The Greens want to change these rules. Berlin should be allowed to cap rents. New leases should not rise with prices anymore. Tenants should be better protected from losing their home.

The Greens want to set binding public-interest goals for Berlin's state-owned housing companies and have parliament oversee their management more closely. The companies would be strengthened financially so that social housing and energy retrofits are possible without further rent increases. Tenants would get more say.

Berlin owns almost 400,000 apartments. The Greens want fixed social goals for these housing companies. Parliament should oversee them more closely. Berlin should give the companies more money. Tenants should have more say.

The Greens want Berlin's state-owned housing companies to rent more apartments to low-income households and especially vulnerable groups. A "rent dimmer" is meant to slow rent increases there, including after climate-related renovations.

Berlin owns housing companies. The Greens want these companies to give more homes to poor people. Rents there should rise more slowly. Rents should also not rise much after a climate renovation.

The Greens want to make it harder to sell municipal housing by adding a rule to Berlin's constitution. The program justifies this with the past sale of more than 200,000 municipal apartments, which it calls a historic mistake.

Berlin once sold many of its own apartments. The Greens call that a mistake. They want a new rule in Berlin's constitution. The rule should slow down such sales.

The Greens want to rent vacant ground-floor spaces of the state-owned companies at capped rents to social and cultural users. At the same time, neighborhoods are to be strengthened through more participation and community work, especially in large housing estates.

Some ground-floor shops are empty. The Greens want to rent them out cheaply. For example to youth clubs, artists and neighborhood groups. Community work in neighborhoods should also get more money and support.

The Greens want new housing to be created mainly within existing built-up areas and on land that is already paved. Green courtyards and unsealed land are to be preserved; the party rejects new office towers built against the will of districts and neighborhoods.

The Greens want to build new homes. But not on meadows or in green courtyards. Building should happen on gaps, vacant lots and parking lots. Homes should be built above supermarkets. The Greens reject tall office towers that neighbors do not want.

The Greens want existing housing to be used better by advising older people in particular on remodeling, splitting an apartment or moving. New buildings should include as many apartments as possible that can be divided or combined.

Many people need a different home when they get older. The Greens want to help with advice. For example with remodeling or moving nearby. New apartments should be easy to split or join.

The Greens want to stop selling state-owned land and lay this down in a land protection law. Land is to be bought up, leased under heritable building rights and awarded to the best concept rather than the highest bidder.

Berlin should no longer sell its land. A law should say so. The state should also buy more land. The best idea decides who may use a plot. Not the most money.

The Greens want half of the apartments in new developments under the Berlin model to be rent-controlled. In addition, shares for affordable commercial space and for cultural and creative space are to be required.

Anyone planning a large building project in Berlin must build affordable homes. The Greens want half of the homes to be affordable. Affordable rooms for businesses and culture should be built too.

The Greens want to change the building code so that serial and climate-friendly construction and remodeling become easier and cheaper. Renewable and low-carbon building materials are to be used in new construction and renovation.

The Greens want simpler rules for building. Building and remodeling should get faster and cheaper. Houses should be made of wood, clay or straw. That should help the climate.

The Greens want to develop new neighborhoods that are climate-neutral, mixed-use and built around short distances. By 2030, no additional land is to be sealed on balance.

New neighborhoods should be good for the climate. Daycare, school, shops and buses should be close. They should be there from the start. From 2030, Berlin should on balance pave over no new ground.

The Greens want to convert existing buildings rather than demolish them, calling for a shift in how the city builds. New neighborhoods are to be developed with non-profit partners and cooperatives and include squares, green space, sports areas and social facilities from the start.

The Greens do not want to tear down old buildings. They want to rebuild them for new uses. New neighborhoods should have squares, green areas and space for sports. Housing cooperatives should help build them. Children and young people should have a say.

The Greens want to treat housing in the Berlin-Brandenburg region as a single market. Berlin housing companies are to build and renovate in smaller surrounding towns as well, and public transit and cycling routes are to be expanded along the settlement corridors.

The Greens also look at Brandenburg when it comes to housing. Berlin housing companies should build and renovate homes in nearby towns too. Towns with empty apartments should get help. Buses and trains to these towns should get better.

The Greens want to build the neighborhoods that have been in planning for years or are already fully planned, rather than debating new sites. In the party's view, Berlin lacks implementation, not land. Plans that would pave over ecologically important areas are to be reviewed and changed.

The Greens want to actually build the planned neighborhoods now. Many plans have been ready for years. They reject new debates about more sites. But important natural areas should stay open.

The Greens want to prevent people from losing their homes in order to head off homelessness. Evictions are to be possible only when a replacement apartment is available. The rules on housing costs covered for benefit recipients are to be changed so that actual rents are covered.

The Greens want people to keep their homes. No one should be evicted without a new place to live. In winter there should be no evictions if possible. The welfare office should cover real rent costs better.

The Greens want to place homeless people in regular apartments and improve shelters in the meantime. A state office for accommodation is to coordinate places, and in the long run only nonprofit providers should be allowed to run them. The so-called protected housing market is to grow.

The Greens want better shelters for people without a home. A new office should organize the places. Later, only nonprofit groups should run shelters. Nonprofit means they do not make a profit. More people should get a normal apartment.

The Greens want to stop approving new office buildings for the time being. Vacant offices are to become affordable apartments with the help of a new funding program. The platform points to more than 2.2 million square meters of unused office space in Berlin.

Many offices in Berlin are empty. The Greens want to turn them into homes. The state should give money for this. For now, there should be no new office buildings.

The Greens want to create more accessible housing and promote communal forms of living. Medical practices, hospitals, and sports facilities are also to become accessible to people with disabilities step by step.

Berlin should get more homes without barriers. Hospitals and sports halls should also become accessible to everyone. Residential homes should offer more protection from violence. There should be more sports programs for people with disabilities.

The Greens want to build up an Azubiwerk (a service organization for vocational trainees) that runs affordable dorms, and to strengthen the Studierendenwerk Berlin (student services organization) financially. A federal-state pact would secure student services organizations nationwide. The party rejects tuition fees for all students.

Trainees and students need cheap housing. A new organization should run dorms for trainees. The student services organization should get more money. Cafeteria food should stay affordable. Studying should not cost tuition fees.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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 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 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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

The SPD wants to create a total of 100,000 new homes between 2026 and 2031 and at least 230,000 by 2040. A public housing construction program is meant to ensure that more than half of new homes are built by state-owned, cooperative, and other public-interest companies.

The SPD wants 100,000 new homes in Berlin by 2031. More than half should be built by companies that serve the public good. These include the state's own housing companies. The state will give these companies more money.

The SPD wants to further develop funding for housing cooperatives and make it the second pillar of the public housing construction program. State-owned land is to be made available to cooperatives and other public-interest developers, mainly through long-term ground leases.

The SPD wants to give more support to housing cooperatives. The state will give them land to build on. Usually the state keeps the land. The cooperative may use it for a long time. This is called a ground lease.

The SPD wants to raise the social housing quota under the cooperative building land model from 30 to 50 percent. In the future, the model is also to apply to projects without a development plan when developers need exemptions from building law.

Today, 30 percent of homes in large new building projects must be social housing. The SPD wants 50 percent. The rule should apply to more building projects. The districts should check that the homes are really rented out this way.

The SPD wants to speed up and lower the cost of construction and permitting in order to reduce the shortage of affordable housing. Simpler building standards, modular construction, and digitalized building authorities are meant to contribute to this.

The SPD wants building to be faster and cheaper. Development plans should be finished in two years. Building offices should work more with computers and AI. There should be simpler building rules.

The SPD wants to make greater use of vacant lots, brownfields, empty offices, and low-rise properties for housing. Owners who do not build on ready-to-build land are to be pushed to build or sell through a Grundsteuer C (a property tax on undeveloped building land) and building orders.

Some plots are empty even though building is allowed there. The SPD wants to introduce a special tax for them. It also wants to require owners to build. Empty offices should become homes. Homes could be built on top of low supermarkets.

The SPD wants to create up to 12,000 homes at the former Tegel airport with state-owned companies and cooperatives. Tempelhofer Feld is to keep its current function; the party rejects building along its edges as long as other land in Berlin remains unused.

Tegel used to be an airport. The SPD wants to build up to 12,000 homes there. Tempelhofer Feld should stay open. No homes should be built on the edge of the field for now. But there will be building next to the old airport building.

The SPD wants to expand the existing rent review office into a rent supervisory authority that advises, investigates, and imposes penalties. Rent gouging is also to be pursued by a specialized department at the public prosecutor's office.

The SPD wants a new authority for rents. It will check and punish rents that are too high. Tenants can report high rents with an app. Prosecutors should also do more against rent gouging. Rent gouging means the rent is far too high.

The SPD wants to commit the state-owned housing companies more firmly to exemplary rental practices and to limit rent increases there. The cap of 27 percent of household income is in the future to be based on gross rent excluding heating rather than on net rent.

The state of Berlin owns housing companies. Rents there should rise less. Tenants should pay at most 27 percent of their income for rent. In the future, running costs should count too. Homes should be given out without discrimination.

The SPD wants to make better use of existing housing by making home swaps and moves to smaller apartments easier. A matching program is to bring together older people with spare rooms and young people who pay less rent in return for help with daily life.

Some older people have a spare room. Young people should be able to move in. They help with daily life and pay less rent. People who move to a smaller home should not pay more per square meter. Single parents should be entitled to more rooms.

The SPD wants to tighten the ban on misusing residential space and thereby return vacation rentals to the rental market. A new housing protection task force at the Senate is to support the districts with enforcement; construction of micro-apartments is also to be more tightly managed.

Many homes are used as vacation rentals. The SPD wants to restrict this more. A new unit at the Senate will help the districts with checks. Very small apartments should also be built less often.

The SPD wants to prioritize preserving housing over demolition and act faster against neglected buildings. It also plans a rent and housing register, a duty to report vacancies, and a progressive vacancy tax.

The SPD wants fewer buildings to be torn down. Landlords should keep their buildings in good condition. Otherwise the district steps in, and the owner pays. Owners who leave homes empty for a long time should pay a tax. A register will show who owns homes.

The SPD wants to create a new social housing framework that substantially expands the public-interest housing market. One goal is a legally sound rent cap, either through an opening clause in federal law or based on Article 15 of the Basic Law.

The SPD wants a rent cap for Berlin. That is a fixed upper limit for rents. Berlin needs permission in federal law for this. Or Berlin uses Article 15 of the constitution. This article allows property to be turned into public ownership.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for stricter tenancy law. This includes a permanent rent brake without exceptions, a ban on index-linked rents, and a lower cap on rent increases.

The SPD wants stricter rent rules across Germany. The rent brake should apply forever. Rents should rise by no more than six percent in three years. Index-linked rents should be banned. These are rents that rise along with prices.

The SPD wants to press the federal government for a social tenancy law for commercial premises, the return of the municipal right of first refusal in protected neighborhoods, and a stricter ban on excessive rents. Owner-occupied housing is to receive targeted support, while Berlin is to remain a city of renters.

The SPD wants to protect renters better. Districts should again be able to buy buildings first in protected neighborhoods. Very high rents should be easier to ban. Shops and small businesses should also get better rent protection. Families with little money get help to buy their own home.