'Trial Living' in German City Comes With a Nice Price Tag

Eisenhuettenstadt, a town in eastern Germany once envisioned as a socialist ideal, is now serving as a real-world laboratory in the country's effort to reverse decades of population decline. Once called Stalinstadt and built around a steelworks, the town's population has shrunk by more than half since reunification in 1990, reflecting broader struggles in the former East Germany, where economic and demographic gaps with the western portion of the nation persist, reports the Washington Post.

To counter this trend, Eisenhuettenstadt—which has been talked up in the past by Tom Hanks, who called it a "gorgeous place," per the Guardian—recently rolled out a "trial living" initiative, offering rent-free furnished apartments and community events to would-be residents in hopes of convincing skilled workers to relocate, reports the Post. Interest in the program outstripped expectations, drawing 2,000 applications from around the globe for just two available spots. The city's calm atmosphere and architectural heritage have been cited as part of its appeal, though it may prove too sleepy for some, per one of the two participants who lived in a rent-free apartment for two weeks last month.

The trial-living project is part of a broader push to rebrand smaller eastern towns as affordable, livable alternatives to Germany's expensive urban centers. Eisenhuettenstadt, for instance, has ample vacant housing—around 1,100 apartments currently stand empty—with rent for a renovated three-bedroom place going for around $1,000, a fraction of Berlin prices.

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However, persistent challenges remain: Far-right politics, limited job prospects, and an aging population continue to deter newcomers. Despite the mixed outlook, local leaders see promise in the growing interest and have already signed leases with new residents attracted by the program's publicity. It's not clear if the rules for this new set of trial renters will be similar to the ones for the first two, but the pilot renters were required to know the basics of the German language and be legally able to work in Germany or the EU at large, per USA Today.