Berlin halts Tempelhofer Feld modular housing project

Modular Housing Units for Up to 1,100 People

Berlin scraps divisive modular housing plan for Tempelhofer Feld at last minute

Berlin's governing center-left coalition of the SPD and CDU had sought to fast-track an amendment to the Tempelhofer Feld Protection Act through the House of Representatives' Environment Committee—with little debate and at short notice. A final vote in the parliamentary plenary session could have taken place as early as next week. Only at the last minute, on Thursday morning, did the coalition back away from the plan.

Speaking later in the Integration Committee, Social Affairs Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) explained that the area near the former airport, close to Columbiadamm, would see existing modular housing units replaced with new and improved facilities. However, she stressed that there were no plans to construct permanent residential buildings on the site.

"We will not be adding this item to today's agenda," announced SPD lawmaker Linda Vierecke at the start of the Environment Committee meeting, speaking on behalf of the coalition. "There are still unresolved issues," she stated—without elaborating further or explicitly mentioning the "Tempelhofer Feld" or the proposed "amendment," thus avoiding additional public scrutiny of the reversal. Any change to the 2014 law, which prohibits development on the field, has long been contentious.

Just a day earlier, the situation had looked entirely different. The committee office had informed opposition factions that the CDU and SPD intended to vote on document 19/2659—titled "Act on the Establishment and Maintenance of Facilities for Refugees and Asylum Seekers on Tempelhofer Feld"—less than 24 hours later. The plan was to push it through without debate: "The coalition factions do not consider an extensive discussion necessary," read the internal notice obtained by our website.

The Green and Left parties vehemently opposed the move. No prior consultation had taken place—not in the first reading during the parliamentary plenary session at the end of September 2025, nor in the co-deliberating Integration Committee. Typically, the lead committee—in this case, the Environment Committee—only makes its decision after the co-deliberating committee has weighed in. The Greens argued that the House of Representatives must examine such a law with particular thoroughness.

As early as late June 2025, Berlin's governing coalition had signaled its intention to build a new modular housing complex for refugees on the northern edge of Tempelhofer Feld, near Columbiadamm. According to Senator Kiziltepe at the time, the facility was set to open in the second half of 2028, providing accommodation for 1,000 to 1,100 people.

On Thursday afternoon, Kiziltepe confirmed these figures in the Integration Committee after a question from Left Party lawmaker Katina Schubert about the current status. "There are no plans to build permanent housing," Kiziltepe reiterated. She also dismissed earlier allegations that the legal amendment would serve as a "gateway to further development" on the field. Left Party MP Michael Efler had accused the Senate at the start of the year of employing a "salami tactic," allegedly aiming to gradually accustom the public to construction on the site.

Schubert pressed further in Thursday's committee meeting: "Am I understanding this correctly? The old containers will be dismantled, better-quality units will be installed, and the hangars—where conditions are truly appalling—will be cleared?" Kiziltepe confirmed: "That is the approach we intend to take." The goal, she said, is to shut down the emergency shelters in the hangars and "implement the additional spaces in a container-based system, ideally using timber construction."

Any alteration to the protection of Tempelhofer Feld is especially controversial because the 2014 law was established by a public referendum. However, the House of Representatives can amend such a law with a simple majority, despite recurring claims that another referendum would be required. "Legally, a public referendum carries no more weight than a law passed by parliament," former House President Ralf Wieland (SPD) told our website in 2021. "The Berlin Constitutional Court has made it clear that both stand on equal footing."