Merkel to face angry tenants as Germany debates rent caps

BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing tenants angry over rising rents in a country where home ownership is traditionally low.

Merkel is speaking Friday at a meeting in Cologne of the German Tenants Association. Its head, Franz-Georg Rips, recently called for urgent measures to make housing more affordable and warned that tenants are losing faith in the government's ability to tackle rent rises.

Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel, acting co-leader of the center-left Social Democrats, has said his party will discuss nationwide rent controls with Merkel's Union bloc in the coming days.

The state of Berlin has already proposed freezing rents for five years. Activists in the capital have also launched a campaign to get the state government to take over nearly 250,000 apartments worth billions from corporate owners.