Kathrin Gaál
Vice-Mayor and Executive City Councillor for Housing, Housing Construction, Urban Renewal and Women's Issues of the City of Vienna
"The right to housing is a human right (Articles 16 and 31 of the European Social Charter)."
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vienna was beset by a dramatic housing shortage. Above all the working class was constrained to live in cramped quarters and great poverty. This extreme crowding and lack of hygiene favoured outbreaks of various epidemics. Tuberculosis was referred to as “the Viennese disease” because it was more frequent in the Austrian capital than in other European countries; it was also considered a typical ailment of the working class. Reacting to these conditions, the Social Democratic city government, which was for the first time voted into office after World War I, undertook concerted efforts towards a significant improvement of the housing situation. In the early 1920s, the City Council’s adoption of the first housing construction programme for Vienna provided for the construction of 25,000 flats over a five-year period.
The underlying objective was to create affordable, high-quality homes for broad strata of the population. But much more was achieved: housing estates with “fresh air, light and sunshine” that at the same time offered kindergartens, schools and lending libraries as well as communal facilities. Although framework conditions and needs have changed over the years and decades, the City of Vienna has remained true to its fundamental political intention of ensuring the supply of its citizens with modern and affordable housing.
Contrary to other European cities, the treatment of municipal housing estates as an object of profiteering was always out of the question. Vienna’s system of housing promotion is one of most important tools for continuing to provide a sufficient quota of affordable dwellings despite rising demand. Not least because of this asset, Vienna is considered one of the world’s most liveable cities. No other European city can boast a similar constancy of its social housing policy – a policy that was never abandoned, not even when the spirit of the era was dictated by neoliberalism and privatisation. The City of Vienna is committed to subsidised housing construction and, contrary to many other metropolises, has never considered selling off this municipal stock.
The great number of subsidised dwellings exerts a price-dampening effect on the entire housing market of the Austrian capital. As a result, rents in Vienna are relatively moderate when compared to other metropolises. A wide range of affordable housing units can still be taken for granted in Vienna. Today, around 50 percent of all Viennese live in subsidised dwellings – either in one of the 220,000 municipal units or in one of the 200,000 co-operative flats built with municipal subsidies. Vienna’s 1,800 municipal housing estates alone are home to close to half a million citizens. The “Vienna Model” of social housing ensures that future generations, too, will have access to a sufficient number of affordable dwellings.
Karin Ramser
Director City of Vienna - Wiener Wohnen
Since the launch of Vienna’s first ever social housing programme, people’s expectations and requirements of their living space have changed a lot.
"All over the world, the Vienna model of social housing is regarded as a model of success. It is thus hardly surprising that the interest of international experts in Vienna’s housing sector has greatly increased."
No other European city can boast a similar constancy of its social housing policy – a policy that was never abandoned, not even when the spirit of the era was dictated by neoliberalism and privatisation.
Vienna is committed to municipal housing and, contrary to many other metropolises, has never considered selling off this city-owned stock. The great number of subsidised dwellings exerts a price-dampening effect on the entire housing market of the Austrian capital. As a result, rents in Vienna are relatively moderate when compared to other metropolises. A wide range of affordable dwellings can still be taken for granted in Vienna.
Economists, too, assert that self-regulating market forces fail where supply is finite and, thus, can only be (re)produced to a limited degree. The housing market is a perfect example of a market where supply is subject to limitations, so that increasing demand does not lead to equally increasing supply but rather to soaring prices. As a consequence, nearly all European metropolises and conurbations are currently beset by a massive housing shortage as well as by the fact that many population groups can no longer afford living in the city and, hence, near their workplace. Vienna’s approx. 220,000 municipal flats, which due to their specific rental conditions are not subject to the forces of the free market, run counter to neoliberal positions and blind faith in the market.
This housing stock is an important market regulator that, thanks to Vienna’s city government and its present-day and past decisions, was never exposed to privatisation, contrary to the situation in other metropolises. According to the policy adopted by Vienna’s city government, the fundamental need that is housing and the possibility for all income groups to live in our city are more important than the financial gain achieved by just a few. Today, around 50 percent of all Viennese live in subsidised flats – either in one of the 220,000 municipal flats or in one of the 200,000 co-operative dwellings built with municipal subsidies. Vienna’s 1,800 municipal housing estates alone are home to close to half a million citizens.
It was and remains the task of Wiener Wohnen to preserve municipal housing estates for future generations and to further enhance supply through e.g. attic conversions or the “Municipal Housing NEW” programme. Doing justice to this task and the objectives of the near-centenary history of municipal housing constitutes both a permanent challenge and a motivation.
More information (in German): www.wienerwohnen.at