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Most recently at Action Coalition
- Newsletter No 129 of 18 March 2023Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 129 Rally against displacement, March 18, 2023, 11 a.m., Kornstr.4The home of the tenants* is in danger.With the help of notices of own need, the landlord wants to DISMISS the house in Karl-Korn-Straße 4 in Cologne’s Südstadt and thus snatches the people from 5 apartments their home of many years.March 16, 2023 by whThe Anno-Riegel was once part of the Stollwerck chocolate factory and was replaced with social housing and condominiums.The rent control for the social housing expired after 30 years at the end of 2021.In 2020, the building was sold… Continue reading Newsletter No 129 of 18 March 2023
- Newsletter No 128 of 11 March 2023Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 128 Rally against vacancy, March 11, 2023, 11 a.m., Neusser Str. 39In the house Neusser Str.39 only one apartment is still inhabited – by the owner of the house.The housing shortage in the city does not interest him.Again and again it was reported about it:13.02.2022Cologne million real estate turn in case ghost house – nevertheless no auction by order of the courthttps://www.express.de/koeln/immobilie-in-koeln-wende-im-fall-geisterhaus-8691204.12.2020Cologne ghost house Instead of auction for 1.6 million – now everything comes differentlyThe former butcher’s shop Kuske has been deserted for about ten years – only the owner of… Continue reading Newsletter No 128 of 11 March 2023
- Newsletter 127 of March 03, 2023Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Destruction, Newsletter 127 Rally against vacancy on March 4, 2023, Deutz-Mülheimer Str.168On Saturday, March 4, 2023 we will meet at 11 a.m. in front of the house Deutz-Mülheimer-Str. 168. On the other side of the street there should have been apartments long ago, but all that can be seen is a huge construction pit and half a shell that has not been worked on for years. We demand that the city brings the properties back into municipal ownership and commissions the GAG and cooperatives to build social housing there.The city leadership around Mayor… Continue reading Newsletter 127 of March 03, 2023
- Newsletter 126 of February 25, 2023Action alliance against housing shortage and city destruction, circular 126 Rally against vacancy on February 25 at 11 am, Glasstraße 6.The Left in the Ehrenfeld district council on 07 May 2018:“In the Ehrenfeld district alone, the houses Glasstraße 6, Hansemannstraße 49 and Senefelderstraße 74 have already been empty for years. This must be changed!Resolution:The administration is instructed to,(1) to convert vacancies that existed before the housing protection statute came into force into residential use by means of building bids in accordance with § 176 of the German Building Code (BauGB)(2) to issue building bans for the vacancies at Glasstraße 6,… Continue reading Newsletter 126 of February 25, 2023
- Newsletter 125 of February 17, 2023Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Destruction, Newsletter 125 Rally against vacancy: February 25, 2023 at 11 a.m. in front of the house Glasstr.6.Our tour through the vacancy in Cologne leads us after Friedrich-Engels-Str, 7 and Engelbertstr.37 to Ehrenfeld.Although in Cologne over 5000 dwellings stand empty, social departmental head Dr. Rau maintains that the housing market in Cologne does not permit it to accommodate the homeless in lockable single rooms and in dwellings. In view of the need and the misery on the street, this is not acceptable. The apartments, which have been vacant for years, must be requisitioned… Continue reading Newsletter 125 of February 17, 2023
- Newsletter 124 of February 10, 2023Rally against evictions and vacanciesand for the accommodationof all homeless people in lockable single rooms We insist on housing all homeless people in lockable single rooms. We insist on the conversion of all multi-bed rooms in the emergency shelters into lockable single rooms.To emphasize this, last Saturday we stood in front of the empty 80 apartments in Friedrich-Engels-Strasse for the last time for the time being. We will protest against the vacancy in the coming months on Saturdays from 11 am from week to week in front of other vacant apartments and houses.On Saturday, February 11, 2023 we will be… Continue reading Newsletter 124 of February 10, 2023
- Newsletter 123 of February 4, 2023Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, newsletter 123 Rally against housing shortage and forced evictionsIn order to continue to make public in the urban society that the abolition of homelessness does not have to be a long-term matter, we will again stand in front of the house with the 80 vacant apartments in Friedrich-Engels-Strasse 7 on Saturday, February 4, starting at 11 a.m. But we will not stop there. Every Saturday we want to protest in front of another vacancy and demand the seizure and housing of homeless people. In Cologne, more than 5000 apartments are vacant.The Action… Continue reading Newsletter 123 of February 4, 2023
- Newsletter 122 of January 28, 2023Winands family still waiting for a suitable apartmenthttps://www.express.de/koeln/obdachlose-familie-zwangsgeld-gegen-die-stadt-koeln-beantragt-418845 Housing shortageOn the past Sunday, 22.January 2022, the picture on Sunday on the sides 10 – 12 titelte: HOUSING EMERGENCY. In the Federal Republic 700,000 dwellings are missing.Falling new construction figures: Federal Minister of Construction Geywitz considers the target of 400,000 apartments per year achievable in 2024 at the earliesthttps://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/klara-geywitz-haelt-ziel-von-400-000-wohnungen-fruehestens-2024-fuer-erreichbar-a-f8ba0d08-468c-4add-849c-e30f5df8e11fReal estate industry expects ten years of housing shortagehttps://www.report-k.de/immobilienwirtschaft-erwartet-zehn-jahre-wohnungsnot/The Cologne Round Table announced in July 2022 with its study “Equal Opportunities in the Housing Market” that Cologne lacks 86,008 apartments. https://www.rundertischkoeln.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Chancengerechtgkeit-auf-dem-Wohnungsmarkt.pdf (see p.20)Although social inequality continues to increase and, as a result, the… Continue reading Newsletter 122 of January 28, 2023
- Newsletter 121 of January 21, 2023Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, newsletter 121 WHO CAN HELP: SIX HEADS NEED A HOME! The Winands family is homeless. The city wants to deport them to a shelter in Ehrenfeld. But the Winands are at home in Porz, where their children go to daycare and school. The city does not want to rent anything, but is willing to pay the costs for a temporary accommodation – so it is not because of the money! We ask all readers to look for a suitable apartment with us. Also an accommodation for only a few days is helpful.… Continue reading Newsletter 121 of January 21, 2023
- Newsletter 120 of 13 January 2023Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 120Lockable single rooms for all those living on the streetAt the end of the year, two homeless people died in the Vorgebirgsstraße emergency shelter.Only report-k reported on it: “Two deaths in one day: Südstadt facility causes concern”.https://www.report-k.de/zwei-todesfaelle-an-einem-tag-suedstadt-einrichtung-bereitet-sorgen/The social administration has commissioned the Society for Innovative Social Research and Social Planning (Gesellschaft für innovative Sozialforschung und Sozialplanung, GISS) to conduct a survey on the living situation of homeless and houseless people in Cologne and to develop recommendations for action so that Cologne’s assistance system can be more needs-based.However, the Cologne City Council… Continue reading Newsletter 120 of 13 January 2023
- Newsletter 119 of 06 January 2023Action Alliance against Homelessness and Urban Degradation Abolish homelessness at lastA report by Hans Mörtter There is room!!! – I didn’t want to take photos. I was out early in the morning of 4 Jan with employees of the public order office around the cathedral area.The idea was to wake people up so that they would leave their night-time accommodation, which would “disturb” them during the day ….. I was impressed by the respectful and familiar way in which the public order officers dealt with each other.They know about each other and that it is like this every morning.“Every day… Continue reading Newsletter 119 of 06 January 2023
- Newsletter 118 of December 30, 2022Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, circular 118 For a city without homelessnessFor a city without evictionsFor a city without drug deathsFor a city without violence against women and childrenFor a city without deportationsFor a city without poverty All year long these demands were at the end of our newsletters. In this last newsletter of the year, we have made it the headline because we need to act more decisively for this in 2023. Throughout the year, we have demonstrated in front of Council and Social Committee meetings for the placement of all homeless people in lockable… Continue reading Newsletter 118 of December 30, 2022
- Newsletter 114 of December 3, 2022Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, circular 114 Substitute imprisonment – fighting against the poor, instead of fighting against poverty Those who are sentenced to a fine and do not pay go to jail. The women and men concerned were sentenced to a fine because the offenses they were charged with were more or less minor: minor property offenses, drug possession and driving without a ticket. Moderated by Martin Stankowski, Dr. Nicole Bögelein from the Institute of Criminology at Cologne University, Petra Hastenteufel from the OASE and former NRW Minister of Justice Dr. Peter Biesenbach provided information about… Continue reading Newsletter 114 of December 3, 2022
- Newsletter 111 of November 12, 2022Action alliance against housing shortage and urban destruction, newsletter 111 Voices of the homeless in the arena on Nov. 10, 2022 at 30 Years of Ass Huh: Melissa Linda Rennings and Rainer Kippe Moderator: Linda, on your sweater it says “Streetwork”, one can see directly what you do. You work on the streets with homeless people, especially with women and girls. What is the situation here in Cologne for women and girls on the streets? Linda: There are no statistics. The proportion of men is very high, that of women is small, but in recent years women have caught up.… Continue reading Newsletter 111 of November 12, 2022
- Newsletter 110 of November 5, 2022Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, circular 110 Drug addiction and homelessness VISION e.V.. the Cologne association for accepting drug work, celebrated the Memorial Day for deceased female drug users for the 25th time on July 21, 2022. “Female drug users possess a right to human dignity just like all other people. They do not have to earn it by becoming abstinent and conforming.”https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzeptierende_Drogenarbeit A total of 1,190 women and men died in Cologne in the past 25 years as a result of their use of illegalized substances. For us 1,190 are more than clear arguments for a… Continue reading Newsletter 110 of November 5, 2022
- Newsletter 106 of October 8, 2022Action alliance against housing shortage and urban degradation, newsletter 106 “Reker is not interested in building”. – is the title of the interview with Daniel Arnold in the business section of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on page 9 of October 7, 2022. In view of the housing shortage, the chairman of the supervisory board and shareholder of “Deutsche Reihenhaus AG” also claims “You can’t win an election with housing.” The Stadtanzeiger simply lets this pass – instead of reminding who all from the profit-oriented Cologne housing industry campaigned for the election of Ms. Reker as OB. In the interview, Mr. Arnold… Continue reading Newsletter 106 of October 8, 2022
- Newsletter 105 – 01 October 2022Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 105 Winter Aid 2022/2023 Happy 80th birthday to Günter Wallraff. Last year he was with us at the beginning of December on the station forecourt. The three-day overnight stay with homeless people was intended to draw attention to the situation of the homeless and to urge the city to house all homeless people in lockable single rooms. Exemplary this made the small association Helping Hands Cologne registered association, which accommodated over 30 homeless ones for the second winter in consequence in a youth hotel. Two of these homeless people also spoke… Continue reading Newsletter 105 – 01 October 2022
- Newsletter 104 – 24 September 2022Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 104 Housing shortage in Cologne – Greens, CDU and Volt let it happen If you want to prevent homelessness, you have to stop forced evictions. Current figures from Cologne: in 2020, there were 1,728 evictions and in 2021, 1,589 apartments were evicted.https://berichte-landtag.nrw.de/uploads/345/KA%20345.pdf The Rosa-Luxemburg-Gesprächskreis Sülz-Klettenberg (Cologne) in cooperation with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung NRW invited to an event on the topic of housing shortage at Café Lamertin on 20.09.2022. Speakers were Michael Weisenstein, council member for Die Linke and Kalle Gerigk from “Recht auf Stadt”.https://nrw.rosalux.de/veranstaltung/es_detail/26NBT/wohnungsnot-in-koeln-%E2%80%93-was-kann-die-stadt-tun?cHash=d2f1090cc18ef70648cb5442e54d902e Mayor Reker agreed on the Cologne Housing Alliance with… Continue reading Newsletter 104 – 24 September 2022
- Newsletter 104 -24 September 2022Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 104 Housing shortage in Cologne – Greens, CDU and Volt let it happen If you want to prevent homelessness, you have to stop forced evictions. Current figures from Cologne: in 2020, there were 1,728 evictions and in 2021, 1,589 apartments were evicted.https://berichte-landtag.nrw.de/uploads/345/KA%20345.pdf The Rosa-Luxemburg-Gesprächskreis Sülz-Klettenberg (Cologne) in cooperation with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung NRW invited to an event on the topic of housing shortage at Café Lamertin on 20.09.2022. Speakers were Michael Weisenstein, council member for Die Linke and Kalle Gerigk from “Recht auf Stadt”.https://nrw.rosalux.de/veranstaltung/es_detail/26NBT/wohnungsnot-in-koeln-%E2%80%93-was-kann-die-stadt-tun?cHash=d2f1090cc18ef70648cb5442e54d902e Mayor Reker agreed on the Cologne Housing Alliance with… Continue reading Newsletter 104 -24 September 2022
- OMZ unforgottenYesterday, 22.09.2022, the Pioneer Park was inaugurated in Südstadt with access via Bischofsweg 48-50. The name is provisional. On the website for this project, there is a photo of the site from a bird’s eye view on the home page: https://www.parkstadt-sued.de/. At the lower end of the park in the direction of Bonner Straße are large piles of earth and behind them a fence separating the area, which has not yet been landscaped, from the Pioneer Park.This was the site of the administration building that was occupied by homeless people at the beginning of the pandemic two years ago. They… Continue reading OMZ unforgotten
- Newsletter 102, 10 September 2022Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 102 The NRW alliance “We want to live!” is sounding the alarm. The stock of publicly subsidised housing has already been reduced from around 1.4 million to less than 450,000. According to NRW.BANK’s calculations, 46% of these will fall out of the subsidised housing stock by 2030. The state government’s intention to create 45,000 new socially subsidised flats by 2027 will not be able to stop this development. Despite high demand, fewer and fewer subsidised flats will be available in the future. In many large cities in NRW, about 50 per… Continue reading Newsletter 102, 10 September 2022
- Newsletter 101 of September 3, 2022Social inequality and refugees and homeless people in Cologne “How is there to be a city without anti-Semitism, without racism and without sexism if social inequality continues to increase? How is universal fear to disappear from the city as long as people fall through the meshes of the social net into the bottomless pit?” (On 5 August 2020, these questions were at the end of our daily report from the vigil against housing shortages at Alter Markt. To be read in the book RatSchläge gegen Wohnungsnot und Stadtzerstörung, Weissmann Verlag, Cologne 2020, p.17). At 1.50 a.m. on Monday, two men… Continue reading Newsletter 101 of September 3, 2022
- Newsletter 103 – 17 September 2022Action Alliance against Housing Shortage and Urban Degradation, Newsletter 103Protest and resistance against rising living costsAt the European Summer University of Social Movements in August, the Forum on Capitalism addressed the question of whether we are witnessing a transition to a new form of development of capitalism. And if so, what form will it take?Speakers were Frank Deppe from Philipps University Marburg, Julia Eder from Johannes Kepler University Linz and Dominique Plihon from Sorbonne University Paris-Nord. https://www.esu22.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Kampagnen/ESU22/Downloads/Programm_ESU_2022_D_web.pdfThe three agreed that in the current market capitalism of the West, the state is intervening more and more, technologies such as digitalisation are… Continue reading Newsletter 103 – 17 September 2022
- Defund the OrdnungsamtThe Kölnische Rundschau reported on 14 January 2016 from the Deutsche Bank’s New Year’s reception under “streamlining and harmonisation” that further branches would be closed. It was fitting that Lord Mayor Henriette Reker, who was greeted with applause, called for more staff for the police and judiciary. She also invited those present to join her in strengthening Cologne as a business location, saying that this was the “most impressive social policy there is”. The strengthening of Cologne as a business location promoted by Ms Reker did not become “the most impressive social policy there is.” For lack of space, the… Continue reading Defund the Ordnungsamt
- Newsletter 100 of 27 August 2022[Abolish Homelessness – Finland and Germany] – [For a City without Poverty] – [Programmes, News] – [Recommended Reading] – [Dates]. Abolishing homelessness – Finland and Germany Finland as a role model The editors of the Hamburg street newspaper “HinzundKunzt” noticed during their visit to Helsinki that they did not see any homeless people on the streets. Finland is the only EU country where the number of homeless people is decreasing year by year. At the end of the 1980s, the country with its good five million inhabitants still counted 20,000 homeless people; today, less than 4,000 have no home of… Continue reading Newsletter 100 of 27 August 2022
- Newsletter 99 of 22 August 20221 Josef Berditchevski On 17 August 2022, the Stadt-Anzeiger headlined its article about the story of the musician Josef Berichevski, who was shot on 3 August 2022, with “Death on notice” and in the subtitle with “the story of a failure” it refers to an interpretation that we do not share. He did not shoot himself. Shouldn’t we first and foremost speak of the failure of the police operation when its result is the death of a tenant? https://www.ksta.de/koeln/erschossener-mieter-in-koeln-tod-mit-ansage—das-ende-eines-gescheiterten-lebens-39881256 The day before, the Stadt-Anzeiger podcast was already announced like this: “Fatal police shooting in Ostheim: Did tenant want to die?”… Continue reading Newsletter 99 of 22 August 2022
- InvitationSaturday, 20 August 2022 – 11:11 a.m. – Vigil – Vacancy – Rally Because we do not simply accept vacancy, we meet every Saturday at 11:11 am for a rally in front of the vacant houses of the Russian Federation in Friedrich Engels Straße/ corner of Berrenrather Straße in Cologne-Sülz.Next Saturday, 20 August 2022, we expect as guests: Konrad Adenauer, Chairman of the Haus- und Grundbesitzerverein, Jürgen Becker, cabaret artist, Professor Jürgen Bremer, petitioner for the expropriation of the houses, Franz-Xaver Corneth, Chairman of the Tenants’ Association, Franz Meurer, parish priest of St. Elisabeth and St. Theodor in Vingst, Martin… Continue reading Invitation
- Mourning rally for Josef BerditchevskiKalle Gerigk had announced the mourning rally that took place yesterday in front of the house Gernsheimer Straße 17 in Cologne-Ostheim. This was the home of Jouzef Berditchevski, who was shot by two police officers on 3 August 2022 when he was to be evicted and resisted. Before the rally, an article by Andi Goral had appeared on report-k.de in the morning, which gave a different picture of the killed street musician than what had come from the other Cologne media until then. https://www.report-k.de/polizei-erschiesst-mieter-in-ostheim-er-war-koelner-strassenmusiker-und-spielte-vor-der-philharmonie/ Particularly impressive in the article by Andi Goral is the link to a “hier und heute”… Continue reading Mourning rally for Josef Berditchevski
- Newsletter 97 of 6 August 2022(1) [Fatal Forced Embrace] – (2)[3,000 new social housing units for Cologne every year] – (3)[When will refugees and the homeless be treated equally] – (4)[For a city without violence against women and children] – (5) [Programmes, reports, news] – (a)[Housing construction in Cologne since 2010] – (b)[Vonovia] – (c)[Stern-TV] – (d)[Berlin tenants] – (e)[Vacant flats in Stuttgard] – (f)[Vacancy rate] – (g) [Kunst-trotz(t)-ausgrenzung.de/] – (6) [Reading recommendations] – (7)[Dates] – [8 October – National Day of Action] 1st Fatal Eviction Mourning rally “Forced evictions destroy lives” 6 August 2022, 2 – 5 p.m., Gernsheimer straße 17 Dear City Gazette,… Continue reading Newsletter 97 of 6 August 2022
- Vigil photo galleryGaleria zdjęć z czuwania Galerie foto de la priveghi Photos of our action days Zdjęcia z naszych dni akcji Fotografii din zilele noastre de acțiune 2 April 2022 2 kwietnia 2022 r.2 aprilie 2022 9 April 2022 9 kwietnia 2022 r.9 aprilie 2022 25 June and 23 July 2022 25 czerwca i 23 lipca 2022 r.25 iunie și 23 iulie 2022 16 und 30 April 2022 16 i 30 kwietnia 2022 r.16 și 30 aprilie 2022 4 June 2022 Third occupation of the Russian Federation vacancy at Friedrich-Engels-Strasse 7 4 czerwca 2022 r. Trzecia okupacja wolnego miejsca w Federacji Rosyjskiej… Continue reading Vigil photo gallery
