It's true they weren't responsible for the situation they found themselves in, that's on the Berlin CDU - my wishes for whom might get me banned here.

However, as I noted, it's not just that they sold the units, it's the combination of that with doing nothing to combat the foreseeable rent increases.

• Modernize the allowed housing development plans for land that had already been released for development? No.
• Release enough more land for housing development? No.
• At the very least reduce or speed up the bureaucratic overhead required for housing development? No.

All three options would have at least contributed to mitigating the situation and were achievable without straining the state budget - especially the second one might've even been a net contributor if handled smartly. They did none of them - and it's not like this is a case of hindsight 20/20, this was all known at the time.