Hous­ing, just like land, must not be a commodity—this is the goal of the Miet­shäuser Syn­dikat in a nut­shell. Since its offi­cial foun­da­tion in Freiburg in 1993, it has devel­oped and pro­mot­ed self-orga­nized hous­ing projects. The unique fea­ture of the syn­di­cate is that land and build­ings are per­ma­nent­ly decom­mod­i­fied. This means that the orga­ni­za­tion, togeth­er with the ten­ants of a house, buys the prop­er­ty and the land, thus dis­solv­ing tra­di­tion­al own­er­ship struc­tures or oth­er depen­den­cies. By with­draw­ing build­ings and the land they stand on from the real estate mar­ket, the syn­di­cate posi­tions itself explic­it­ly against spec­u­la­tion and prof­it. Today, around 160 projects in Ger­many, the Nether­lands, and Aus­tria exist under the syndicate’s umbrel­la, mak­ing long-term afford­able res­i­den­tial, work­ing, and liv­ing spaces a reality.

Link to Audio guide