Heimstaden Organizing

StopHeimstaden
Organizing

Organizing Berliner tenants of the Heimstaden houses

Table of contents

  1. The Heimstaden Deal
  2. Demands of tenants & press releases
  3. Local groups and contacts for tenants
  4. FAQ to Heimstaden
  5. What can tenants do right now?
  6. Logos, banners and stickers

Heimstaden AB strikes

Berlin

Over the last few months, the Swedish Heimstaden AB has bought more than 140 houses with nearly 4,000 apartments throughout Berlin. The deal is driving the city’s sell-out further, and crowding out and shortage of housing is expected. Heimstaden and the investment company Skjerven Group, acting on its behalf, are known for vacancies, luxury renovations and conversions into property.

Karte der Häuser des Heimstaden-Deals
THE MAP SHOWS HOW THE HEIMSTADEN DEAL IS SPREADING OVER A LARGE PART OF BERLIN

Scope and consequences of the deal

Heimstaden Bostad AB is one of the largest Swedish housing companies. Behind it stands the Norwegian billionaire Ivar Tollefsen, who, according to media reports, already owns 100,000 apartments in Europe. The latest deal is thus to cover 130 Berlin apartment buildings with 3902 apartments for a price of just under 830 million euros. In total, however, there are already almost 150 houses and over 4,000 apartments.

In times of rent caps, such major investments are particularly alarming and highlight the speculative interest of the investor. It is not unlikely that apartments will be expensively renovated, converted into property and sold after purchase. Experiences of tenants and reports of different media on the  yield-oriented approach of Heimstaden point to this circumstance. At the same time, new expensive micro apartments and condominiums mean a shortage in the already tight rental market.

This must be prevented! Together with the affected residents we want to organize ourself and protest against this sellout of the city.

Demands of the network

The tenants demand:

the exercise of the right of first refusal of the houses to a third party oriented to the common good, so that grown neighborhood structures are preserved in the long run.

that politicians are also looking for solutions for houses that are excluded from the “Milieuschutz”.

that the first refusal is based is not based on the current speculative prices but orientate on the social value of the houses.

that the politicians, especially in the Berlin Senate for Finance and Urban Development, provide the necessary subsidies in the event of a purchase by a socially responsible company or cooperative.

in general affordable housing and the development of a social housing culture.

the introduction of rent protection also for small businesses.

the active preservation of the lively and diverse neighborhood culture throughout Berlin.

Press releases

Press release of the StopHeimstaden network of 02.11.2020

Press release of the Initiative Renters Union Berlin of 02.11.2020

Organization throughout Berlin

To 21.10. found themselves 290 tenants and activists together for the first on-line cross-linking meeting of the Heimstaden houses! On 28.10 second meeting was held. Now it applies to make the next steps. The fact that we are so many makes us strong, but also requires good coordination. Therefore we want to organize ourselves into local groups and AGs.

Districts and local groups (Ortsgruppen)

For each district there is a distributor and a district group meeting. There we link tenants and houses to build up pressure on district representatives.

Ortsgruppe Mitte-Nordwest: Wedding, Moabit, Spandau

Ortsgruppe Pankow:

Ortsgruppe Neukölln:

Ortsgruppe Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg:

Ortsgruppe Tempelhof/Schöneberg & Steglitz:

Berlin-wide meetings and AG’s

There is a regular meeting to which one or more delegates from each house are invited. Here we decide on central demands and coordinate the work of the AG’s and local groups in the single districts. To register for the Berlin-wide e-mail email list click here.

There are also three working groups/AG’s:

AG Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Public Relations)

AG Aktionen (Actions)

AG Plan B

All working groups/AG’s are open for tenants of Heimstaden houses.

More questions? Have a look on our Heimstaden FAQ! Everything around the network, Vernetzung, about the right of first refusal und Heimstaden on a single page.

What can tenants do right now?

  • Talk to your neighbors. Put up a note in the hallway. Hold house meetings. Take care of roommates / neighbors without email or language barriers. Create a distribution list for the house. Choose speakers who represent your house in the initiative.
  • Collect data about the house and the individual apartments (as preparation for the portfolio for the cooperatives): number and size of the apartments in square meters, number of rooms (without kitchen, bathroom and hallway), type of heating (e.g. stove, gas heating, central heating, etc.), bathroom equipment (shower? WC?), floor of the apartment.
  •  Collect opinions and possible contributions for a possible self purchase (tenement syndicate). Define a trusted person for such personal data!
  • Be creative! Hang up banners, carry out actions, contact us in case of problems, questions etc.

Logos, banners and stickers

Decorate your houses and social media accounts, cover the city and take your protest out into the streets!

Logos

Banners

Stopheimstaden Banner 500x100_1Herunterladen
Stopheimstaden 500x100_2Herunterladen
Stopheimstaden 500x100_3Herunterladen

Stickers

Stopheimstaden Aufkleber 5x10cmHerunterladen