Die Linke Wins Berlin With 26% on Housing Expropriation as Rents Jump 70%
Updated
Updated · Novara Media · Sep 21
Die Linke Wins Berlin With 26% on Housing Expropriation as Rents Jump 70%
3 articles · Updated · Novara Media · Sep 21
Summary
26% of the vote gave Die Linke its biggest recent Berlin victory, putting Elif Eralp in line to lead the city after a campaign centered on rent caps and seizing large landlords’ flats.
70% rent growth over the past decade helped drive that message in a city where 84% of residents rent, 10% live in housing poverty and about 160,000 people have left for cheaper housing.
220,000 flats could be forcibly bought back from companies such as Vonovia at roughly 60% of market value under a law advancing a 2021 referendum that backed expropriation.
Zohran Mamdani’s New York team shared campaign ideas with Die Linke, which leaned on a large ground operation and social-media tactics while keeping its Berlin pitch tightly focused on living costs.
Coalition talks now loom: Die Linke finished ahead of the CDU, but would still need the Greens and likely the SPD, whose local leader already opposes expropriation.