ABSTRACT
This chapter comprehends two aspects of the class nature of global capitalism under the dominance of finance that led to growing levels of impoverishment among urban residents across three key cities in the eurozone. Berlin, as the capital of the most powerful country in the EU, has been experiencing increasing levels of urban displacement since the early 2000s. The vast amount of wealth generated by credit-led accumulation exists alongside a scarcity of well-paying jobs, adequate state support for societal reproduction of surplus workers and, of course, low-income housing. The Berlin, Vienna and Dublin case studies reveal that the primary response by states to displacements has been to obstinately wait for market forces to hit equilibrium between rental housing supply and rental housing demand.
