Federal popular initiative "Put an end to the endless construction of second homes!"
The federal popular initiative "Put an end to the endless construction of second homes!" ( second home initiative for short ) was a Swiss popular initiative to restrict second homes and so-called “cold beds” - living space that is only used for a fraction of the time.
The initiative was voted on March 11, 2012, and it came into force on the same day.
The initiative was submitted by the «Helvetia Nostra» committee headed by animal and landscape conservationist Franz Weber and supported by various environmental protection organizations. With 50.6 percent yes, the result of the vote was extremely tight; until September 2016 only the mass immigration initiative was accepted with a tighter result.
Initiative text
I
The Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999 is amended as follows:
Art. 75b (new) Second homes
1 The share of second homes in the total stock of residential units and the gross floor area of a municipality used for residential purposes is limited to a maximum of twenty percent.
2 The law obliges the municipalities to publish their first home share plan and the detailed status of its implementation every year.
II
The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are changed as follows:
Art. 197 no. 8 (new)
8. Transitional provisions to Art. 75b (second homes)
1 If the relevant legislation does not come into force within two years after the adoption of Art. 75a, the Federal Council shall issue the necessary implementing provisions on creation, sale and registration in the land register by ordinance.
2 Building permits for second homes issued between January 1 of the year following the adoption of Article 75a and the entry into force of the implementing provisions are void.
Voting campaign and legislation
Opponents of the initiative were largely business-related parties and associations as well as the residents and members of the authorities of mountain villages that are dominated by tourism. Approval was highest in the urban regions remote from the Alps, such as Geneva , Basel-Stadt , Neuchâtel and Schaffhausen . There was a clear conflict between the interests of domestic tourists, who are interested in the preservation of village and alpine landscapes, and the property owners. The voters of the canton of Valais put up bitter resistance (73.8% no, with 57.2% the highest home ownership rate in Switzerland).
After the adoption, a heated debate began in the National Council and Council of States about the design of the implementation article. Possible circumvention of the ban on second homes, for example by temporarily renting out second homes in the area of additional hotels , or the preservation of historical buildings (e.g. grottos in Ticino ), which could no longer be maintained due to a residence ban, were particularly important .
The initiators and politicians met to compromise on three points, namely the tendering of second homes for rent via commercial platforms (e.g. Airbnb ), the conversion of buildings worth preserving and the conversion of unprofitable hotels.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Housing conditions - data, indicators. Home ownership rate. ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The three concessions in the second home initiative. In: Tages-Anzeiger . March 3, 2015.
