DThat the people of Munich have had enough is shown in large numbers on this Saturday afternoon under the gray sky in downtown Munich. Several thousand people gathered at Odeonsplatz to express their dissatisfaction with the situation on the housing market in the city and beyond – many families with children, younger people, older people. A section of Munich city society.
“Dad sleeps in the living room so I can have my own,” is written in bright colors on a cardboard box that a young girl is holding up. The tone is already somewhat set: Munich residents have had enough of the “rent madness” in their city, as Julia Richter, the co-organizer of the demonstration in front of the Theatinerkirche, says.
It is a broad alliance that gathered in the city center and helped organize the demonstration. Countless flags blow in the wind that moves across the square – from parties, unions, initiatives. One of the first speakers on stage is the Munich musician Roger Rekless, who will also host the event. But, as he himself says, he is also affected. As a father, he has been looking for a new apartment for five years, he reports. Completely hopeless. Rekless said he couldn’t even afford the rent for the rehearsal room anymore. At first there is an awkward silence on the square.
But that changes as the event progresses. There is always applause when it comes to the fact that people have to defend themselves against ever-increasing rents, that vacancies in Munich’s most expensive city have to be ended and that social housing should no longer be “sold for sale”, as Julia Richter says. She also recalls that the Free State of Bavaria, under the then Finance Minister Markus Söder (CSU), now Prime Minister, sold more than 30,000 social housing units from the state-owned GBW.
The motto of the event organized by the Munich Rent Demo Alliance is “It’s good for us! Rents down.” As of 3 p.m., the police said the number of participants was 4,000 to 5,000 people, and the trend was rising, and they still had no new figures when asked at 5 p.m. The organizers are talking about almost 10,000 participants during the event.
Things get touching when Marianne Ott-Heimberg, who once lived with her husband in Maxvorstadt on Türkenstaße, appears. In a neighborhood where people knew each other. In an idyll, as she says. But then the investor came and there was nothing left of the Wilhelminian-style ensemble in which she once lived. Rather, there is now “a high-priced complex with prices of up to 30,000 euros per square meter,” as she says.
Such excessive rental and purchase prices are also a thorn in the side of Melanie Weber-Moritz from the German Tenants’ Association. The housing crisis, she shouts from the stage in front of the Feldherrnhalle, has reached the heart of society, a million people in this country have no place to live and far too many people live in fear. “The market has gotten out of control,” says Weber Moritz – especially in Munich, where the average asking rent is now 25 euros per square meter. “Who else is going to pay for this?” she asks loudly.
Monika Schmid-Balzert from the Munich Tenants’ Association also says that housing in this city has “become a question of existence”. More and more people are afraid to open their mailbox in the morning because there could be a letter in it with a rent increase or notice of termination. And the property owners would only have “dollar signs” in their eyes.
But politicians also have their say on this day. Already in the morning, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) announced via social media: “I’m happy! Because living in Munich has become a question of existence.” Families, students and people with middle incomes are afraid of losing their apartment, are paying ridiculous prices for rooms and are coming under increasing pressure. According to the mayor, people’s anger is justified, but Munich is doing what is legally possible – and often more. Not a single city apartment has been sold, since 2019 there have been 70,000 apartments with a rent freeze and one in ten Munich residents lives in a city apartment. According to the mayor, the problem is that tenancy law is federal law, the rent cap offers too many loopholes and index and furnished rents drive up prices.
Stefan Jagel, city councilor for the Left, doesn’t want to let that happen on the stage at Odeonsplatz. According to Jagel, since Dieter Reiter became mayor, rents in Munich have risen by 60 percent. But the city should not become a “Disneyland for speculators”. Schmid-Balzert also calls on the city to do more for social housing. And more effective laws against rent usury would be needed. “The market doesn’t regulate anything,” she says to loud applause.
Munich’s Second Mayor Dominik Krause (Greens) emphasizes that vacancies and usury must be combated even more strongly – and the construction industry, which has earned incredibly well for a long time, must be held accountable. And his city council colleague Christian Köning from the SPD points to the Free State: You just have to look at how it deals with its student apartments in Munich. The city politicians’ contributions are not only accompanied by applause, but also boos.
Completely different with the appearance of Hans Well and his Wellbappn and his “view from the provinces”, as he says right at the beginning. And he tells him, he sings, that investors are now selling off the Hasenbergl as Schwabing-West. And because of the high rents, people could no longer even afford an Augustiner and had to drink Oettinger instead. Poor Munich.
At around 3:20 p.m. the demo train sets off from Odeonsplatz towards Maxvorstadt, onto Theresienstrasse and Adalbertstrasse – and later back again. In a district where, as one of the organizers says, you can observe under a magnifying glass everything that goes wrong in this city. It’s a colorful march led by an oversized, inflated hand that symbolizes the rent freeze. And right behind them, the drummers of the “Munich Disturbance of the Peace” are making a lot of noise. The people of Munich no longer want to give up when it comes to their rents.
