Swiss voters have rejected a people’s initiative to promote more affordable housing. The initiative has failed to gain the necessary support in a majority of cantons.
Final results are expected later today.
Carlo Sommaruga, head of the Swiss tenants’ association that launched the initiative, hailed an “excellent” vote score even though the initiative failed, and called on parliament to do more to promote social housing.
The people’s initiative for “more affordable housingexternal link”, initiated by the Swiss Tenants’ Associationexternal link, sought to introduce a minimum of 10% social housing in Switzerland, as opposed to about 5% at present. Supporters said it would stop speculation and help ordinary people, while opponents argued it would result in more bureaucracy, delaying building projects.
An opinion poll in December found 66% of respondents showing support for the initiative, but this has since crumbled.
“Criticism of the initiative - expected high administrative costs and the risk of an investment freeze for renovation projects - have won the upper hand,” says Lukas Golder, co-director of the leading GfS Bern research instituteexternal link.
Government counter-proposal
The government came out against the proposal, but also introduced a counter-proposal to help increase the availability of low-cost housing. It proposed to budget an extra CHF250 million over ten years for the National Operating Fund, from which housing cooperatives can get loans on favourable terms.
This funding has already been approved by parliament, so now that voters have turned down the initiative, the National Operating Fund will get this new injection of cash.
Centre-right parties together with business associations, employers’ organisations, landlords’ and real estate industry groups joined a campaign committee with the slogan “No to the extreme initiative on housingexternal link”.
They said a 10% quota at national level would be “too rigid” and does not match real demand, which varies from place to place. Opponents argued that monitoring implementation of the quota would mean more bureaucracy, which would hamper building projects and drive investors out of the real estate market. They also stressed that taxpayers would have to foot the bill for extra costs involved in implementing the initiative, which the government estimated at CHF120 million ($123 million).
“Stop Speculation”
According to advocates of the initiative, including the left-wing parties and trade unions, “greed on the part of speculators” wanting bigger and bigger profits is behind soaring rents.
The initiative called for the Swiss government and cantons to work together so that at least 10% of all new housing built nationwide be owned by social housing partners. Social housing, usually run by cooperatives as well as other associations and foundations, does not aim to make a profit and so enables lower rents.
The initiative also wanted the Swiss government and semi-state bodies like the Federal Railways and Swiss Post to give preference to municipalities and cantons when selling off land. Government grants for initiatives like energy upgrading should only be awarded if the projects concerned do not involve loss of moderately-priced housing stock, it said.
A nation of tenants
This comes against a background of rising rents in Switzerland, which is known as a “nation of tenants”. At the end of 2017, 59% of households nationally (2.2 million) were living in rented accommodation, according to figures provided by the Federal Statistics Officeexternal link. Rents are the biggest single item in the average Swiss household budget, with the national average for monthly rent – all sizes of apartment considered – amounting to CHF1,329 ($1,370) in 2017.
Rents have continued to rise since the turn of the Millennium, as national statistics show. Population increases combined with low interest rates have prompted investment in high-end apartment buildings, resulting in a lack of moderately-priced housing and a growing phenomenon of gentrification in many places.
Source: Swissinfo
