Kreuzberg in the crisis: Tenants are desperately fighting for their home!

Kreuzberg in the crisis: Tenants are desperately fighting for their home!

In Berlin, the focus is once again a familiar struggle for affordable living space. The building at Schönleinstraße 19 in Kreuzberg, lovingly called "Schöni19" by the residents, threatens to be released for luxury renovation - the fate of 17 tenants hangs in the floating. An investor from Vienna acquired the dilapidated house, which frightened the rental companies to lose their apartments. Many of them have been living there for decades, some of them since 1978. They fear being suppressed by the impending renovation and the associated rent increases, such as berlin-live.de reported.

fight for right of first refusal

The possibility of a right of first refusal by the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district could save the tenants, but the deadline for this will be released on January 7th. The responsible district had previously planned to make use of its right of first refusal to protect the tenants. But there are hurdles: The Senate has so far refused to release urgently needed means, which endangers the implementation. The city councilor Florian Schmidt expressed his disappointment with the blockade of the Senate, while the tenants are emotionally shocked and felt abandoned.

The situation could still have a turn for the residents if they found a cooperative together and join together to acquire and renovate the house itself. But the financial pressure is enormous: You would have to raise more than 1.4 million euros, which, such as nd-aktuell.de, is a major challenge for many. The threatening luxury renovations thrash a shadow on the already divided dreams of a worthy life in a affordable home and put the residents into a state of alert.