Literature: Churches as rental sharks | nd-aktuell.de

Much has been written about the profit interests of housing corporations; For example, real estate sharks such as Deutsche Wohnen, Vonovia & Co. repeatedly cause criticism. What is less known is the actions of Christian companies that like to describe themselves as more social than others. But the church companies do not live up to their claim of combining Christian ethics and economic activity in the real estate sector. The journalist and sociologist Ralf Hutter has researched this in recent years and produced articles for Deutschlandfunk.

After these broadcasts, tenants came forward and described how they were affected by the Christian-capitalist real estate sector. Their actions can be summed up in this formula, as Hutter now describes very clearly in a book. Under the title “The landlord gives it, the landlord takes it,” Hutter checked the reports and then wrote them down on 220 pages. This is how a black book was created about the greed for profit and repression in the Christian real estate business, which makes it clear that values ​​such as charity and support for the poor have no place there and that anti-social behavior prevails instead.

During his research, Hutter discovered that real estate companies owned by rich dioceses still burden poor people with rent increases, reprisals and terminations, and that Catholic orders also destroy affordable housing. There are also completely normal grievances in the Christian real estate sector: poor reactions to reports of defects, threatening rent increases due to energy modernization, terminations, excessive rents, gentrification. The stories take place primarily in Berlin, Cologne and Düsseldorf, but Austria and Greifswald also appear.

The church rent sharks are also largely ignored in the tenant movement. Only once has a Christian company come into focus in recent years: in 2018, activists occupied an apartment at Großbeerenstrasse 17 in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The owner of the house was the Aachen Settlement and Housing Association (ASW), which ultimately had it evicted. ASW is the largest German real estate company and has a prominent place in the book. There are several reports of poor service as well as ignored or delayed repair requests. Hutter shows that this is not about an individual failure of individual employees, but that this practice has a system. Using the Stegerwaldsiedlung in Cologne as an example, he describes how ASW renovates a residential area to generate returns. The Christian housing companies use the same instruments as their secular competitors, including upgrading through energy modernization.

What is striking in comparison to the secular housing companies is the audacity with which inquiries from the press are ignored and downright fought against. Hutter quotes several times that when he asked for his research, the answer he received was that there was no interest in communication.

But Hutter also shows that there is resistance in many of the houses. A solidarity network is active in the Stegerwaldsiedlung in Cologne, which supports tenants against measures taken by their landlords. In a settlement for seniors, they have networked online. Many are also afraid of consequences if they defend themselves. When it comes to taking action against unruly tenants, Christian housing companies do not differ from secular housing companies. Church housing capitalism also leads to layoffs and, ultimately, evictions.

Ralf Hutter: The landlord gives it, the landlord takes it. Greed for profit and repression in the Christian real estate business, Alibri-Verlag, Berlin 2023, 220 pages, ISBN: 9783865693891, 18 €.