The right to proper housing in Berlin. Exclusion and precariousness in a field of blurred responsibilities

Abstract

For the inhabitants of Friedrichshain, a neighbourhood located in the former East Berlin, housing conditions have dramatically changed since the unification of Germany in 1990. In a neighbour's words: "Many people do not understand that, for GDR citizens, it is very difficult to understand how a basic right like housing became commodified stuff. This shocked people. For my acquaintances and for me this was shocking. It was the most personal thing one had. Usually, one had only one flat" However, the great population replacement occurred in this urban area has blurred the memories about the previous situation. Only a minority of the present-day Friedrichshainer can report about the total development and remember a time when housing provision was completely a responsibility of the State.