Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 156
“How the new class disguises itself with morals and betrays solidarity”.
On Sept. 19, 2023, an article on page 1 of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger carried this headline: “Scholz demands more action against poverty.” Chancellor Scholz made this statement before the start of a summit in New York on the status of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziele_f%C3%BCr_nachhaltige_Entwicklung
In the Federal Republic, the government’s commitment to combating poverty is lacking:
The ver.di chairman Frank Werneke has sharply criticized the budgetary policy of the Federal Government. The draft budget for 2024 presented by the traffic light coalition is “an austerity dictate at the expense of the areas of social welfare, integration and education,” he said at the beginning of the ver.di federal congress on Sunday (September 17, 2023) in Berlin.
https://gesundheit-soziales-bildung.verdi.de/++co++040e41c2-5595-11ee-abe0-001a4a160110
The threat of cuts in voluntary services and in child and youth policy is driving young people into the streets. They accuse politicians of cutting back on, of all things, community engagement in times of crisis
https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/221032/20-09-2023/jugendliche-und-verbaende-protestieren-gegen-sozial-kuerzungen
In the area of housing costs alone, around 700 million euros are to be cut. To the memory: The KdU for all citizen money recipient:in are proportionately carried by the municipalities and the federation. The federal government pays the largest share. https://hartz4widerspruch.de/news/buergergeld-weniger-budget-fuer-unterkunftskosten-2024/
45 million euros less for youth social work and integration projects; 35,000 volunteer positions are at risk; 200 million euros less for the reintegration of the long-term unemployed; the federal subsidy for long-term care insurance is being cut, which means even higher co-payments for those in need of care and their relatives; one in three migration counseling centers is facing closure. https://www.linksfraktion.de/parlament/reden/detail/die-ampel-regierung-der-gebrochenen-versprechen/
Kohai Saito calls in his new book “System overthrow. Nature’s Victory over Capitalism,” calls the Sustainable Development Goals “…just a kind of tokenism with the sole purpose of masking the urgency of the crisis.”
But who would object to these 17 goals, e.g., Goal 1: Abolish Poverty or Goal 2: Abolish Hunger?
In Goal 11: “Make cities and settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,” we find in sub-goal 11.1: “Secure and affordable housing. By 2030, ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services for all and rehabilitate slums.”
http://sdg-indikatoren.de/11/
Our call to finally end homelessness is in there.
Kohai Saito can call these 17 Sustainable Development Goals “tokenism” because social inequality continues to grow without any evidence that governments want to stop it. Instead, social cuts are occurring.
Perhaps reading Catherine Liu’s new book will help us understand how this could happen and what to do about it.
Professor and book author Catherine Liu turns away from the class of left-liberal academics to return to the real class struggle.
https://taz.de/Professorin-ueber-Wokeness/!5941899/
Catherine in conversation at Westend Publishing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g2ulbR9F8w
Vonovia & Co. – Critique, Crisis and Counter-Strategies
Nationwide series of events in fall/winter 2023/2024.
After more than a decade of aggressive growth and high dividend payouts, listed housing companies (Vonovia, LEG & Co.) are facing a shambles. Credit-financed corporate takeovers are impossible. New construction is buried. The balance sheet values of the properties, which have been pushed up in recent decades, are crumbling. Billions had to be written off at the end of the first half of 2023. Debt is on the rise. Business results have also collapsed. Only rents continue to rise.
Now the corporations want to sell apartments on a grand scale, at the inflated values they have on their books. Some municipalities are considering getting involved in this game in order to be able to exert more influence on local housing markets again. This suits Vonovia & Co. just fine, but it does not change the fact that the market is not currently delivering the purchase price expectations.
Hamburg: Bezirk Mitte will keine soziale Verteilungsaktion am Hauptbahnhof
https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/hamburg_journal/Bezirk-Mitte-will-keine-soziale-Verteilaktionen-am-Hauptbahnhof,hamj139204.html
Ohne Wohnung nach Haft? Problem gefährdet Resozialisierung
https://www.rtl.de/cms/ohne-wohnung-nach-haft-problem-gefaehrdet-resozialisierung-50cdeacd-9601-5b90-bea7-0f2e95563801.html
Kinderarmut – einmal arm, immer arm?
Kalle Gerigk: „Starker Auftritt von Christoph Butterwegge im rbb, in dem er mit den Märchen der Ampel-Parteien und der CDU über die Kindergrundsicherung aufräumt.“
https://www.rbb-online.de/wirmuessenreden/videos/kinderarmut—einmal-arm–immer-arm-.html
SSM und Mach Mit e.V. geben Kalender für Kölner Veedel heraus
https://www.rundschau-online.de/koeln/muelheim/muelheim-veedel/muelheim-neunmal-anders-kalender-fuer-koelner-veedel-mit-tollen-bildern-649305
Die Krisen-Maschine
Jährlich werden in Berlin über 1.600 Menschen zwangsgeräumt. Sascha Kohling ist einer von ihnen. Ein vermeidbares Schicksal, wären Bürokratie und Mietmarkt nicht so unerbittlich.
https://taz.de/!5958340/
Deutzer Hafen: Vermarktungsstart des ersten Baufeldes
https://www.report-k.de/deutzer-hafen-vermarktungsstart-des-ersten-baufeldes/
Er übernimmt die Leitung für die Immobilienwirtschaft der GAG
https://www.report-k.de/er-uebernimmt-die-leitung-fuer-die-immobilienwirtschaft-der-gag/
Architekturbiennale: Eine Zukunft gewinnen
Keine Feier steingewordener Egos, sondern eine gan In order to counter these devastating prospects and not to be played off against each other, affected tenants and the rent movement, tenants’ associations and the parliamentary left must enter into dialogue. How can an overall strategy be coordinated beyond individual municipalities and states? How can the rights of tenants be strengthened, public control over the housing industry be expanded, and as many apartments as possible be transferred to new forms of public or non-profit ownership and organization? In the end, it’s about socialization, multi-dimensionally and step-by-step.
https://www.rosalux.de/news/id/51039/vonovia-co-kritik-krise-und-gegenstrategien
Otto – Langen – Quarter
Dear interested parties and fellow campaigners,
We would like to inform you about the status of our initiative for the interim use of the former KHD social and administrative building on Deutz-Mülheimer-Strasse (Otto-Langen-Quartier) and at the same time connect this with our proposals for action for the realization of the interim use, which we have addressed to the responsible departments and administrative units, to the Lord Mayor and of course especially to the elected decision-makers in the Council, the democratic factions and groups.
Our statement “One step forward, two steps back” (Annex g) evaluates our previous discussions with the cultural space management (VII/5) and the real estate office (23) and is at the same time also a reaction to the speech of Lord Mayor Reker in the “Current hour” of the council meeting of 07.09.2023 with the title “Current hour on cultural, social and socio-cultural projects”, which was requested by the democratic factions and groups, and which was disturbing for many committed people.
It is a joint statement of the Initiativkreis Otto-Langen-Quartier (working group of the Rheinische Industriekultur e.V.) and the associated associations and projects for interim use, which are listed in the appendix to our statement.
We connect our statement with the hope that due to the recent events, the public declarations of public welfare-oriented projects and the currently increased public discussions, perhaps a mental change in the administration, but also an organizational process optimization in relation to public welfare-oriented projects will be initiated, as they demand from our side in the recommendations “Future Quarters – Cologne 2030+”.
To this end, we continue to hold talks with the administration and all democratic forces in the council and support public welfare-oriented projects of other initiatives.
Best regards
For the Initiativkreis Otto-Langen-Quartier and the associated associations and projects
Petra Bossmann (+49 172 7857073) / Jörg Frank (+49 151 58443416) / Bodo Marciniak (+49 221 691717)
Broadcasts, reports, news
How San Francisco is evicting homeless people because of a tech conference
https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/dreamforce-wie-san-francisco-wegen-einer-tech-konferenz-obdachlose-vertreibt-a-9b795b31-4fc7-4a06-8c45-95a34f52d85a
7500 dollars to the hand: How Canada fights homelessness through cash assistance
A Canadian study has examined how direct cash transfers to those experiencing homelessness can be used to lift people out of homelessness. The findings break stereotypes and could fundamentally change the system.
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtschaft/7500-dollar-auf-die-hand-wie-kanada-wohnungslosigkeit-durch-bargeldhilfen-bekampft-10462594.html
Housing in Germany – Between expropriation and investment
https://www.zdf.de/politik/kontext/theo-koll-kontext-wohnungsnot-deutschland-100.html
Vonovia puts construction of 60,000 apartments on hold
Germany currently needs 700,000 new apartments per year, the Vonovia Group calculates. At the same time, however, the company itself is halting the construction of 60,000 units. How does that fit together?
https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/wohnungskrise-vonovia-legt-bau-von-60-000-wohnungen-auf-eis-a-81e95e2a-f314-4d1b-a4aa-631390fe2e1b
Housing crisis intensifies
Building permits in Germany collapse. Another “housing summit” at the Chancellor’s Office
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/459343.wohnungsnot-wohnungskrise-versch%C3%A4rft-sich.html
Translated with DeepLz körperliche Auseinandersetzung mit unserem versehrten Planeten. Die Ausstellung in Venedig bietet ein Erweckungserlebnis. https://www.woz.ch/2338/architekturbiennale/eine-zukunft-gewinnen/!NWG9841BQ89T
Dates
21.09.-24.09, Rent Camp Frankfurt https://mietenstopp.de/
09/23/2023, 1pm https://bildungswende-jetzt.de/ Heumarkt
23.09.2023, 15:30, Klaus Jünschke presents “Trapped & Homeless” in Frankfurt at the Studierendenhaus in Mertonstr.26 as part of the nationwide Mietencamp:
https://mietenstopp.de/mietencamp/#section-programm
23.09.2023, 17 – 19 Uhr, Getting to know the community housing project Petershof, Lövenicher Weg 9-11, https://petershof.org/
25.09.2023, 7 pm, Politics between anger and confidence. Volksbühne https://volksbuehne-rudolfplatz.de/programm/politik-zwischen-wut-und-zuversicht-2023-09-25/
25.09.2023 18:30, Cologne Perspectives on City with Stock. Wallraf Richartz Museum
https://www.hda-koeln.de/kalender/230925_kap/
25.09.2023, 19:30, Cologne, You are a feeling – but which one? Cathedral Forum
Sept. 26, 2023, 3 p.m., ver.di discusses the topic of housing in Cologne with Andree Haak, head of the city development department. Ehrenfeld Civic Center, Venloer Str.
26.09.2023, 7-8 p.m., Better Building Brussels. House of architecture
https://www.hda-koeln.de/kalender/230926_hdak/
10.10.2023 World Homeless Day https://www.worldhomelessday.org/
17.10.2023, 7pm, Book launch “Trapped & Homeless”, Karl Rahner Academy https://weissmann-verlag.de/
8.10.2023, 5 p.m., A visit to the Gerling Quarter
https://www.hda-koeln.de/kalender/230818_architektouren/
19.09.2023, 19 Uhr, Zürich und seine Genossenschaftstradition u. Gemeinwohlorientierte Bodenordnung. https://www.hda-koeln.de/kalender/231019_msz/
23.09.2023, 17 – 19 Uhr, Getting to know the community housing project Petershof, Lövenicher Weg 9-11, https://petershof.org/
Oct. 21, 2023, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.,. Rich people looking for a home. Satirical demo on vacant villas in Marienburg, together with the Pappnasen rotschwarz.
01 – 10.11.2023 Prison Days: homelessness/jail/homelessness https://www.aktionstage-gefaengnis.de/bundesweite-aktionen/aktionstage-2023/
26.10.2023, 15:30 Council
11/16/2023, 3:30 p.m. Social Committee
Dec. 5, 2023, 7 p.m., Werner Rügemer: Who owns my housing. Friedensbildungswerk
For a city without homelessness
For a city without evictions
For a city without drug deaths
For a city without violence against women and children
For a city without deportations
For a city without poverty
September 23, 2023
Klaus Jünschke and Rainer Kippe
https://wohnungsnot.koeln
PS
Call for donations
To further improve our public relations, we need money:
Donation account MachMit! e.V. IBAN: DE53370501981011342704
Intended purpose: Aktion
Translated with DeepL
