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[parent] [thread] 7 comments
1. DasIch+(OP)[view] [source] 2016-05-01 22:19:38
The problem isn't supply, it's supply in Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. If you want a place outside of these districts, you can get a place quite easily.

Increasing supply outside of them, which would be easy because Berlin is surrounded by land you could build on won't change that. At least not without billions of investments in public transport infrastructure, maybe.

Any regulation like building requirements is probably federal, I doubt Berlin has any extra regulation. So there is nothing Berlin can do here.

Removing regulation that is too tenant-friendly isn't popular with voters, it's not going to increase the supply of apartments for students and poor people. This kind of regulation including but not limited to the Mietpreisbremse is also federal law and not something Berlin can do all that much about.

replies(1): >>mafrib+E
2. mafrib+E[view] [source] 2016-05-01 22:32:52
>>DasIch+(OP)
There is no human right to rent a 100m2 flat in Mitte for €200 per month.

Even central Berlin is full of brown-field sites that could be developed -- Flughafen Tempelhof most prominently. If you go for Hong Kong style density there, a lot of housing problems would be solved ... Laws can easily be changed if there is political will at the local, regional or federal levels.

However, all this requires a bit of long-term thinking and planning, of which there is little evidence. Instead we get populist measures like "Mietpreisbremse" which hinder new developments.

replies(2): >>doener+m4 >>DasIch+E6
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3. doener+m4[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-01 23:47:26
>>mafrib+E
Tempelhof cannot be developed because of a plebiscite. What else is there to develop?
replies(1): >>mafrib+dK
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4. DasIch+E6[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-02 00:30:15
>>mafrib+E
There may not be a no human right to cheap rent in Mitte but most voters probably agree that even people with low incomes should be able to live in the city. Also I think a good argument can be made that rent-seeking behavior by property owners can potentially be in conflict with the constitution.

Flughafen Tempelhof can't be developed, voters have voted directly against it. That law could be changed but to do so would arguably be undemocratic and it would certainly be political suicide for the forseeable future. This also brings up the important point of city planning, cities are more than just housing. You need to take that into consideration.

Also indeed increasing supply is about long-term thinking. You can't increase supply very fast and in this instance you can't increase it fast enough. This means you need something to slow down price increases in the short-term which measures like the Mietpreisbremse or banning AirBnB do.

replies(2): >>mamon+ys >>mafrib+vE1
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5. mamon+ys[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-02 08:12:36
>>DasIch+E6
>> voters probably agree that even people with low incomes should be able to live in the city

Why exactly should they? I mean, I don't want to forcibly remove them, but there are many cities in Germany other than Berlin.

If one city is getting richer and richer, then the average price of an apartment goes up. More rich people start comming, because they see oportinity to do business there. At the same time poor people have a choice of moving to smaller, more affordable cities.

The biggest pitfall of a mankind is that we cannot grasp that the world is constantly changing. Life itself is a process of constant change. Just because your parents lived in Berlin and you were born in Berlin does not imply that things have to stay this way forever.

Trying to stop the flow of time and inevitable change is what makes us miserable.

replies(1): >>rvense+MB
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6. rvense+MB[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-02 11:03:05
>>mamon+ys
Your plan is marvellous! It would also have the very positive side effect that I'd only have to interact with other rich people who understand me better. For instance I think I'd be able to make much better smalltalk with the waitress selling me coffee in the morning if she was also rich. And the poor people in the poor people cities would probably also prefer to only mix with their own kind.

Why hasn't anyone thought of this before!

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7. mafrib+dK[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-02 13:08:28
>>doener+m4
Berlin is jam-packed with undeveloped brown-field sites.

Get rid of the restrictions on height, and build 50 - 100 floors Hong Kong style, at least in the center.

Tempelhof shows the stupidity of the Berlin voter. The refusal to develop even a small part of the airfield was almost exclusively justified with fears of "gentrification". Congratulation voters, you have just voted yourself into higher rents. (Also, one could have a new "Volksbefragung", in the light of the dire need for more housing in Berlin.)

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8. mafrib+vE1[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-05-02 19:06:01
>>DasIch+E6

   people with low incomes should be
   able to live in the city.
Steglitz, Spandau, Koepenick, Lichtenrade are all in the city. And all have excellent public transport that gets you to Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg etc in a few minutes. People should live so as to minimise commuting. Since most of those in the centre tend to be either well-paid or tourists, it's fine that they also form the majority of those who live there (either long-term or transient).
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