The Social Housing We Need The Social Housing We Want

INTERNATIONAL MEETING – WED ,2011, JUNE 1 – 11 a.m. . 6 p.m – WUPPERTAL-ELBERFELD

The Social Housing we need

The Social Housing we want

International perspectives for new social housing policies? A debate among urban activists and tenant organizers from Caracas, Istanbul, Durban and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area.

Let’s first take a look back in anger: Four decades of housing privatization, of financial deregulation, of a crazy pursuit of happiness through homeownership.. had led to a multidimensional disaster: the social disasters of exclusion, segregation, homelessness and misery ; the political disasters of dis-/sub-/mega-urbanization processes which totally run out of democratic control; the ecological disasters of mass-reproducing unsustainable life styles and structures; finally the financial disasters, melting down a banking system which was based on speculation with private property.. – and it’s consequences: the economical crisis and then never-ending state bankruptcy. At our meeting comrades from Germany, South Africa, Turkey, Venezuela will share experiences about some of the moments of these processes. Moments of loss as well as moments of anger, of resistance and hope.

Since the multinational crash of the housing bubble the hegemony of the neo-liberal homeowner-ideology started to become fragile. Some movements took the choice demanding “other” social housing policies. Why only so few? And with which results?

One of the exceptions can be found in North-Rhine-Westphalia where the new red-green government in 2010 reacted to demands by tenants organizations and – at least rhetorically – started to stop the neo-liberal course of privatization in housing. However, it was late. Ironically or not, all new ideas for new social housing provision, for public subsidies into energy efficiency in housing, for healing the consequences of the mass sell-outs to private equity costs money. Money which is missing because also NRW and it’s city are slipping into a valley of debt and bankruptcy.

Is this the whole truth? Aren’t there other ways of thinking, of doing “social housing”? Ways which rather contribute to a solution than just depend on missing money ?

Could we build a common idea about principals of “the social housing we want”, about housing policies which meet the needs and the rights of the people and not mainly the interests of investors, landlords and politicians?

Which sort of social housing do we want? A static system of equal access to standardized mass housing for all? Self organized housing which always is a solution for some only? Something between that? Or a mixture?

Do we have a real chance to upscale such demands at transnational levels?

At our meetings we hardly will give answers, we just try to find out some essential questions.

Expected Impulses: Knut Unger (Witten/Wuppertal) about the pillars of social housing policies and the current situation in NRW. FiratGenc (Istanbul) on neoliberal transformations of Tukish housing and especially the role of the state company TOKI. Andres Antillano (Caracas) on the need for new social housing concepts in Venezuela. Mazwi Nzimande and Mnikelo Ndabankulu (Durban) about poor peoples‘ hopes and activism regarding real social housing in South Africa.

The meeting will take place 10:00 a.m. – 6 p.m. (with breaks and walks) in Wuppertal. Afterwards we will join debates on the RIGT TO THE CITY and RAP music at the Café ADA, Wiesenstraße Wuppertal.The meeting will be in ENGLISH and CASTILLANO

If you want to join our meeting write an Email to: knut.unger@habitat-netz.de

This is a meeting in preparation of the RIGHT TO THE CITY CONFERENCE June 2 – June 5 in Hamburg.

FRIEDE DEN HÜTTEN