Book presentation 03.11.21, 19:00 Hauptraum Entry: Free (Register for event)

debating.society #28

Housing corporations

Anyone who wants to understand the changes in the real estate market cannot remain silent about the financialization of recent decades. Driven by the neoliberal delusion that the market could regulate everything, social housing was privatized and new construction stopped. The formerly public housing companies were sold off cheaply to financial players, and we had to witness the rise of the residential real estate corporations, above all Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia.

For tenants, this meant exploding rents, housing shortages and displacement. But the uncontrolled excesses of speculation in the housing market are increasingly confronted with resistance. In addition to an analysis of the developments in the housing market and the experiences of the campaign "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co", we will discuss the question of what a different, democratic and social housing policy should look like.

Philipp P. Metzger studied sociology and holds a PhD in political science. His work focuses on materialist critique of the state and economy, especially financialization and critical housing market research.

Ingrid Hoffmann lives in Berlin and is involved in the campaign "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co".

Philipp P. Metzger: Wohnkonzerne enteignen! Wie Deutsche Wohnen & Co ein Grundbedürfnis zu Profit machen, Wien 2021. (Mandelbaum Verlag)

Housing corporations