Company:Mietshäuser Syndikat

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Mietshäuser Syndikat
TypeGmbH (~LLC)
IndustryProperty
Founded1999
Headquarters
Freiburg
,
Germany
Number of locations
177
Area served
Germany
Websitewww.syndikat.org/en/

The Mietshäuser Syndikat (lit. apartment-house syndicate, abbreviated to MHS) is a cooperative, non-commercial joint venture in Germany that helps communities acquire long-term affordable living space via a legal, collective property arrangement. As of September 2022, there are 177 Hausprojekte (intentional communities of a roughly housing cooperative form) within the MHS, with 17 further initiatives looking for suitable property.[1]

Development

Synapse, newspaper of the Mietshãuser Syndikat, Nr. 7 2011

The MHS was founded in 1992 in Freiburg im Breisgau by former squatters.[2] As of September 2022, there are 177 MHS projects with over 3,800 residents and over 150,000 m2 of living space collectively: 17 accepted initiatives look for suitable property.[1] The smallest object is a family house for 4[3] and the biggest is a former barracks of 4 buildings for 265.[4] A regional coordination group for Tübingen was grounded in 2007, with further coordination groups for Bayern, Berlin-Brandenburg, Bremen, Dresden, Hamburg, Gießen, Leipzig, Marburg and Nordrhein-Westfalen developing since then.[5]

After a 5-year break, Synapse, the newspaper of the MHS resumed print in 2011. The first issue was published in 2001.[citation needed]

Currently the MHS is working towards founding a 'syndicate foundation' (Syndikatstiftung).[6]

General structure

A group of people wishing to create a Hausprojekt within the MHS first form a legal association for their future living collective called a Hausverein (lit. 'House association') using the Verein form (abbreviated e. V.)[7]:349 This provides a legal basis for their collective organization and financing and is a requirement for joining the MHS. Further requirements include accepting a legal obligation to contribute to the MHS solidarity fund and a commitment to provide mutual aid to other Hausprojekte in future. With free assistance from the MHS, the Hausverein creates a general concept including financial plan before applying for membership to the MHS.[7]:1[7]:1

Diagram of the entities and their relationships within the MHS
Artistic depiction of the MHS structure (Helfrich/Bollier 2019)[8]

The MHS has two legal entities, an association (e. V.) and an LLC (GmbH). The association is the sole shareholder of the LLC; it is only possible to join the association. Members of the MHS include every accepted Hausverein, other associations and private individuals.[7]:1 The MHS holds general assemblies 3 or 4 times a year at which point Hausprojekte and their respective Hausvereine are considered for membership.[7]:1 Decisions are made by consensus.[7]:355

Once a Hausverein is accepted into the MHS, a Haus GmbH (lit. House LLC) is created. The Haus GmbH owns the future property the living collective will inhabit and effectively ensures it will not be reprivatized. The foundation of the GmbH requires €25,000 starting capital, of which ~49% is attributed to the MHS (GmbH) and 51% to the Hausverein. The statute of the Haus GmbH gives the Hausverein near total autonomy on the use and development of the house, with the MHS having its voting rights limited to decisions affecting the sale or legal transfer of the property, or changes to the Haus GmbH articles of organization. On such topics, where both shareholders can vote, a majority is required and despite the difference in initial contribution, the MHS and Hausverein each have one, equal vote. This means both parties must mutually consent: either party can veto, and the MHS make clear they will veto any attempt at privatization.[7]:1[7]:350[7]:1

Once the Haus GmbH is established, it raises money with direct loans from Hausverein members, their families and friends, and the MHS, with the rest coming from bank mortgage loans. As of November 2020, 170 million euros was tied up in MHS projects, with ~54% being bank loans, ~39% being direct loans and ~7 % being starting capital.[9]

Reception

Sustainability and sufficiency

Silke Helfrich (de) and David Bollier consider the MHS an exemplary way of defending collective rights.[10] An academic article claimed it is a means to reduce poverty and social inequality,[11] supported by a report from BTU Cottbus which states that MHS projects pay significantly less rent than average.[12]

For Nir Barak, the projects are an expression of a broadly applied citizen engagement.[13] Enrico Schönberg sees the potential for mechanisms in the MHS concept to be transferred into the societal realm.[14]

Judith Very finds the MHS to be a functioning combination of anarchist, direct democratic and Marxist approaches that has situated itself alongside the dominant perception of a "uniform capitalism".[15] Bettina Barthel describes the use of the limited company by the MHS to decommercialize living space as "legal hacking".[16] The MHS is for Ivo Balmer and Tobias Benet a success model.[17]

Kenton Card argues for the consideration of state funding to escalate the spread of the model.[18] The Stadtbodenstiftung Berlin (lit. City land foundation Berlin), a Community Land Trust, describes the MHS as being ideologically aligned.[19]

Risks for investors

There are risks for possibles investors: to finance the projects, a significant deposit is necessary which the Hausvereine and Haus-GmbH typically don't have. Banks require a deposit as additional security when issuing mortgages. The Haus-GmbH gather the required money from private individuals as deliberately low-interest, subordinated loans.[20] In the case of Haus-GmbH insolvency, these private loans are paid back secondarily after the bank loans, thus they carry risk for their entire duration. The MHS informs about one case of insolvency in 2010 on its homepage, and advises distributing larger loans across multiple projects to reduce risk.[21] Stiftung Warentest, a German consumer organisation, recommended in one publication to only invest manageable sums of money, and that investment is not suited for purely financial reasons due to the risk relative to (low) returns.[22]

Attacks on the project

Two attempted arson attacks were targeted against a MHS project on Jagowstraße 15 in Berlin Spandau within two weeks in 2021. Due to previously noticed Nazi-related graffiti, state security and the criminal court of Berlin took up the investigation.[23][24] A year later, a structure in the backyard of another project in Berlin, Grünberger Straße 73 was burnt down.[25] In Hesse, several projects were the target of arson attacks, too.[26]

Influence

Diagram showing MHS, other syndicates and adjacents in continental Europe, 2021

Le Clip was founded in 2010 to adapt the MHS model for people in France.[27][28]

Genossenschaft Mietshäuser MHS (lit. Cooperative rental apartment syndicate) was founded in 2014 in Switzerland.[27] After discussing with similar initiatives in Switzerland, they chose to use the Genossenschaft (Cooperative) form in their model instead of the GmbH (LLC) to relate to a tradition of cooperatives in their country since the LLC offered no additional advantages in Switzerland.[29]

HabiTAT was also founded in 2014 in Austria, transferring the legal structure of the MHS into the Austrian legal frame.[30][27][31]

Sdílené domy (lit. Shared Houses) was founded in 2015 as a MHS inspired organization for the Czech Republic.[32][27]

VrijCoop (lit. Free coop) was founded in 2017 in the Netherlands, translating the MHS model to the Dutch situation.[33][27] In place of the GmbH (LLC), VrijCoop uses the vereniging (association).[34]

Radical Routes, a secondary cooperative networking British housing cooperatives, published a report in 2014 reflecting on weaknesses within their model such as carpet bagging where established co-ops significantly reduce their rent or, rarely, sell their property for private gain. In it they consider the Mietshäuser Syndikat model to have provably solved that issue.[35]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Projekte in Deutschland – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). www.syndikat.org. https://www.syndikat.org/projekte/. 
  2. ↑ "Germany's Collective Alternative to the Private Housing Swindle" (in en-GB). https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/07/germany-mietshauser-syndikat-property-housing. "The idea of the syndicate was born among those who occupied an abandoned machine production factory in Freiburg im Breisgau, another university town near the French border, in the 1980s." 
  3. ↑ "Rennerstraße – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). https://www.syndikat.org/rennerstrasse/. 
  4. ↑ "SUSI Freiburg – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). www.syndikat.org. https://www.syndikat.org/susi-freiburg/. 
  5. ↑ Regionale Beratung und Koordination www.syndikat.org, accessed 7 August 2023
  6. ↑ "Syndikatstiftung | stiftet Räume". Rolf Weilert, F1-EDV GmbH. https://www.syndikatstiftung.org/#stiftung. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named {{{1}}}
  8. ↑ Silke Helfrich, David Bollier (2020) (in German), Frei, fair und lebendig - die Macht der Commons (2., unveränderte Auflage ed.), Bielefeld: Transcript, p. 239, ISBN 978-3-8376-5574-2 
  9. ↑ "Finanzierung – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). https://www.syndikat.org/finanzierung/. 
  10. ↑ Silke Helfrich, David Bollier (2014), "Commons als transformative Kraft. Zur Einführung" (in German), Commons. Für eine neue Politik jenseits von Markt und Staat (Bielefeld: Transcript): pp. 15-23, ISBN 978-3-8376-2835-7 
  11. ↑ Herbert Klemisch, Moritz Boddenberg (2020), "Selbstorganisation der Verbraucher*innen: Potenziale zur Vermeidung von sozialer Ungleichheit in Bedarfsfeldern des Konsums?" (in German), Armutskonsum - Reichtumskonsum: Soziale Ungleichheit und Verbraucherpolitik (Düsseldorf: Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V. Kompetenzzentrum Verbraucherforschung NRW): pp. 79–102, ISBN 978-3-86336-927-9, https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/70407, retrieved 2021-04-21 
  12. ↑ Margarete Over, Patrick Zimmermann, Lars-Arvid Brischke (in German), Wie muss man bauen, um suffizientes Wohnen zu ermöglichen?, Cottbus / Heidelberg, p. 3, https://www.ifeu.de/fileadmin/uploads/pdf/Over_Zimmermann_Brischke_Suffizient_Bauen-Wohnen210322.pdf 
  13. ↑ Nir Barak (2020-04-15), "Ecological city-zenship" (in German), Environmental Politics 29 (3): pp. 479–499, doi:10.1080/09644016.2019.1660504, ISSN 0964-4016, Bibcode: 2020EnvPo..29..479B, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2019.1660504, retrieved 2021-05-28 
  14. ↑ Raven Musialik (2016-03-24). "Die Häuser denen, die sie nutzen" (in de). FUTURZWEI. Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit. https://www.futurzwei.org/. 
  15. ↑ Judith Vey (2016-02-01), "Crisis protests in Germany, Occupy Wall Street, and Mietshäuser Syndikat: Antinomies of current Marxist- and anarchist-inspired movements and their convergence" (in German), Capital & Class 40 (1): pp. 59–74, doi:10.1177/0309816815627389, ISSN 0309-8168 
  16. ↑ Bettina Barthel (2020), "Legal hacking und seine praktischen Dimensionen am Beispiel des Mietshäuser Syndikats" (in German), Zeitschrift für kritik - recht - gesellschaft (3): p. 366, doi:10.33196/juridikum202003036601, ISSN 1019-5394, https://elibrary.verlagoesterreich.at/article/10.33196/juridikum202003036601, retrieved 2021-04-21 
  17. ↑ Ivo Balmer, Tobias Bernet (2017-12-31), "Selbstverwaltet bezahlbar wohnen ? Potentiale und Herausforderungen genossenschaftlicher Wohnprojekte" (in German), Wohnraum für alle?!, Urban Studies (transcript Verlag): pp. 256–280, doi:10.14361/9783839437292-017, ISBN 978-3-8394-3729-2, https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.14361/9783839437292-017/html, retrieved 2021-04-21 
  18. ↑ Kenton Card (2020), "Contradictions of Housing Commons. Between Middle-Class and Anarchist Models in Berlin" (in German), Commoning the City. Empirical Perspectives on Urban Ecology, Economics and Ethics (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge): pp. 159-176, ISBN 978-0-429-02188-6 
  19. ↑ "Das kommunale Vorkaufsrecht stärken! Sieben Forderungen des Mietshäuser Syndikat". 2020-12-16. https://www.stadtbodenstiftung.de/2020/11/20/vorkaufsrecht-mhs/. 
  20. ↑ "Direktkredite | Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). https://www.syndikat.org/de/direktkredite/. 
  21. ↑ "Wenn ein Projekt scheitert – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). https://www.syndikat.org/wenn-ein-projekt-scheitert/. 
  22. ↑ Stiftung Warentest (22 January 2015). "Mietshäuser Syndikat - Anlegergeld für selbstverwaltete Mietshäuser – sozial und riskant - Special - Stiftung Warentest" (in de). https://www.test.de/Mietshaeuser-Syndikat-Anlegergeld-fuer-selbstverwaltete-Mietshaeuser-sozial-und-riskant-4802835-0/. 
  23. ↑ Julius Geiler (2021-04-19). "Zweites Feuer in zwei Wochen in linkem Hausprojekt in Berlin-Spandau" (in de). https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/polizei-justiz/wir-werden-angegriffen-zweites-feuer-in-zwei-wochen-in-linkem-hausprojekt-in-berlin-spandau/27109286.html. 
  24. ↑ "Nach schwerer Brandstiftung – Zeuginnen und Zeugen gesucht". 2021-04-09. https://www.berlin.de/polizei/polizeimeldungen/2021/pressemitteilung.1073409.php. 
  25. ↑ Frank, Marie (June 2022). "Brandanschlag auf Hausprojekt". Die Tageszeitung: Taz. https://taz.de/Brandanschlag-auf-linkes-Wohnprojekt/!5855212/. 
  26. ↑ "Wieder versuchte Brandstiftung an linkem Wohnprojekt". 5 June 2019. https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/ostend-ort904335/brandanschlag-gegenlinkes-wohnprojekt-12348587.html. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 "Internationale Projekte – Mietshäuser Syndikat" (in de-DE). https://www.syndikat.org/projekte-international/. 
  28. ↑ "Qu'est-ce que le Clip ? – Clip – Réseau de lieux en propriété d'usage" (in fr-FR). https://clip.ouvaton.org/quest-ce-que-le-clip/. 
  29. ↑ "Geschichte" (in de-DE). https://www.mietshaeusersyndikat.ch/genossenschaft/geschichte/. 
  30. ↑ "About us" (in en-US). https://habitat.servus.at/?page_id=1533. 
  31. ↑ Sophia Thoma (June 2019) (in German), Spekulierst du noch oder wohnst du schon? Ein Denkmodell für eine alternative Wohnversorgung in Wien. Diplomarbeit, Wien, p. 88, https://repositum.tuwien.at/bitstream/20.500.12708/1717/2/Thoma%20Sophia%20-%202019%20-%20Spekulierst%20du%20noch%20oder%20wohnst%20du%20schon%20ein%20Denkmodell...pdf 
  32. ↑ "Sdílené domy – síť solidárního bydlení" (in en-GB). https://sdilenedomy.cz/en/about-our-project-2/. 
  33. ↑ "Ontstaan – VrijCoop" (in nl). https://vrijcoop.org/ontstaan/. 
  34. ↑ "Doe mee / Faq – VrijCoop" (in nl). https://vrijcoop.org/doe-mee-faq/. 
  35. ↑ Co-op Clusters - Round table report, 2014, https://www.radicalroutes.org.uk/publicdownloads/Co-opClusters_report_lowres.pdf, retrieved 9 September 2022 

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External links

[ ⚑ ] 47°59′36″N 7°50′27″E / 47.993277°N 7.840812°E / 47.993277; 7.840812



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