Right-wing party wants priority for Swiss citizens in Zurich housing

Zurich SVP wants to launch popular initiative "Wohnige für eusi Lüüt" (Residents for our people) Keystone-SDA

The Swiss People's Party wants to launch a people's initiative to tackle the housing shortage in the canton of Zurich.

The cantonal executive committee voted in favour of the popular initiative “The right to a homeland – living space for our people”, as announced on Tuesday evening. However, the party will not decide whether the initiative will definitely be launched until August 13 at a special party conference.

Priority for Swiss nationals from 10 million people

The Swiss People’s Party’s demands will apply once the Swiss population crosses the 10 million mark before 2050. According to the text of the initiative, landlords would then have to give preference to Swiss nationals and people who have lived in the canton of Zurich for at least 10 years when allocating housing.

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Although there are significantly more flats than before, living space is becoming scarcer. The party explains its initiative by stating that the significantly larger proportion of demand for housing comes from abroad. However, Switzerland should not be overbuilt, according to their press release. Building more and more, as demanded by business associations, would not solve the problem.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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