[Diskussionsbeitrag über Kleinwohnungen, S. 33]

Emil Lederer: Discussion intervention on small dwellings (1921)

This recorded intervention in an official commission discussion examines whether municipal construction of small dwellings belongs within a municipalization law or requires separate housing legislation. Lederer begins by linking construction to the organization of letting:

Diese Frage der Herstellung von Kleinwohnungen hängt organisch meines Erachtens mit der Frage der Vermietung der Wohnungen zusammen.

English translation: In my view, this question of constructing small dwellings is organically connected with the question of letting dwellings.

That connection complicates the proposed law’s scope. Letting might itself require socialization under certain conditions, but Lederer considers its regulation a difficult matter. He nevertheless accepts, in principle, allowing municipalities to acquire existing businesses that construct small dwellings. Their limited capital and equipment would, he argues, make expropriation relatively straightforward. This qualified acceptance does not extend automatically to a construction monopoly: its desirability remains a separate question for discussion.

The intervention thus moves from the relationship between construction and letting, through municipal acquisition, to the appropriate legislative framework:

Wir sollten uns zunächst darüber klar werden, ob wir die Frage der Kleinwohnungsherstellung überhaupt im Rahmen dieses Gesetzes behandeln wollen, oder ob nicht ein besonderes Gesetz damit befaßt wird, das die Wohnungen zum Gegenstand hat.

English translation: We should first clarify whether we wish to address the question of constructing small dwellings within the framework of this law at all, or whether a separate law concerned with dwellings should deal with it.

Lederer’s central move is to distinguish municipal ownership, monopoly, and comprehensive housing regulation. His contribution identifies questions that must precede legislation rather than presenting a settled housing programme.