The federal government says this could impede private construction. “The outlook on housing construction in Germany had slightly improved prior to February. The government has announced that “in order to not endanger the construction of private housing, a federal law will prohibit the nationalization of private rental housing.” In 2021, Berliners voted via referendum in favor of bringing private housing owned by large companies like Deutsche Wohnen — which has 100,000 homes in Berlin alone — into public ownership. “I think that the problem can only be resolved by paying very special attention to the construction of affordable housing,” she says.