Organizing, Professionalisierung, Vernetzung: Aktuelle Entwicklungen der wohnungspolitischen Bewegung in Berlin, Hamburg, Jena und Leipzig

For many years, there has been a powerful housing movement in Germany. It criticizes housing issues like rising rents, gentrification, lack of participatory opportunities or the lack of basic provision for homeless people and refugees. Likewise, this social movement supports tenants and alternative housing policies and organizes campaigns. Drawing on insights from Berlin, Hamburg, Jena and Leipzig, we highlight the latest developments of the housing movement in this paper. By describing the movement in these four cities, we have found three recent trends in collective protest: an increased use of the approach “community organizing”, an overall institutionalization and professionalization as well as an intensified networking. Moreover, we have identified two areas which are being controversially discussed within the movement: how to deal with old and new participatory opportunities and their potential challenges and consequences for appropriating the movement; and the debate over the “right” strategy for achieving the core goals of decommodification and communization of housing provision. In concluding remarks we raise additional challenges that have become, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more pressing.