In a tenants union, the well-known union principle is transferred from the field of work to the field of housing. Similar as workers in a company, also tenants share a common social reality: the search for accommodation, unjustified rent increases, experiences of displacement or the conflict with landlords – a tenants union can be an expression of those different experiences and problems that tenants have to deal with today. A union sought to contribute to the collective mobilization and interests of tenants.
That’s true, in Berlin there exist tenants associations with a very large membership base on the one hand, and on the other there is a broad landscape of activist initiatives. We value a union for tenants as a useful and long overdue addition to create a platform for long-term organization and exchange of tenants and activists, as well as to fight collectively for the rights of tenants and to push our demands foreword.
In view of the numerous problems of renters and the various injustices in the housing market, there are different goals and demands:
- Strengthening the tenant lobby and creating a platform for exchange and organization
- Storage and transfer knowledge about renting (e.g. tenancy law)
- Test new actions such as the rent strike and other direct protest actions
- The enforcement of the collective interests of renters in opposition to large real estate groups and the landlord lobby
- Demanding collective tariff rents and the ban on forced evictions
There are already other tenants union as for example in Spain, Sweden or England.
- the Hyresgästföreningen in Sweden exists for over 100 years (!)
- the Sindicat de Llogaters in Spain since 2017
- the London Renters Union since 2018
In Germany, the first tenants union was founded in Frankfurt a.M. in 2019. But also in other German cities the interest rise in setting up local tenants unions. So the time seems to be right!
No matter if you have experience or not – we are looking forward to people who are willing and able to join the initiative!
To get in touch with us, you can use our contact form or send us an email directly to kontakt[@]mg-berlin.de.
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