Social housing is an integral part of Vienna’s urban landscape. The capital of Austria is investing massively to offer low-rent apartments to tens of thousands of its residents.
Vienna is widely considered in Europe to be an example of good practice in the management of social housing.
The city council owns or co-owns and manages approximately 50% of the city’s residential real estate through numerous social programs. This allows it to offer affordable rents to tens of thousands of families.
Around a million people, or roughly half of Vienna’s population, live in social apartments. or other types of subsidized housing.
Social housing has contributed to Vienna being regularly named “the most livable city in the world”.
However, in recent times the situation seems to have deteriorated.
Critics claim that rent prices have increased, waiting lists are growing and the share of social housing in the total real estate market has collapsedvictim of a long period of speculation fueled by low interest rates.
So is the system as perfect and idyllic as it seems? We went to the Austrian capital to try to understand what is hidden behind the facades.
Vienna still invests massively in social housing
Tesbire Keskin, administrative assistant, showed us the 70 square meter apartment where she has lived with her family for almost 20 years. She pays €500 per month – well below market value – for this ideally located apartment.
“The kindergarten is right in front of the building, the school is ten minutes away on foot. In two minutes, I am at the metro”she tells us. “When my children were little and I couldn’t come home from work, the neighbors would pick them up from kindergarten”.
“It’s very pleasant here, it’s green, it’s calm. I’m very happy, satisfied”.
Representatives from the municipality’s Living in Vienna department showed us around some of Vienna’s oldest social buildings. Unlike Berlin and other historically land-owning cities, the former capital of the vast Austro-Hungarian empire never sold its immense real estate properties.
Vienna’s annual budget for social housing amounts to more than 400 million euros, much more than that of large European capitals such as Rome, Madrid or Lisbon.
“Our housing model is guaranteed and financed by a housing tax that every Austrian pays”explains Christian Schantl, head of international relations at Wiener Wohnen-Vienna Living. “This is a small contribution taken from gross income. The employer also pays a part, and this money is specifically intended for housing construction throughout Austria”.
An evolving real estate landscape
However, some shadows hang over this tenants’ paradise. A prolonged period of low interest rates has led to intense speculation. Costs of land, materials and maintenance have skyrocketed, crowding out social housing.
Experts from the NGO Volkshilfe, which helps homeless people access social housing, say thatA few decades ago, social housing represented 80% of new construction projects, compared to 20% of private projects. Today it’s exactly the opposite.
“Ten or fifteen years ago, two thirds of apartments built were social housing. Today, it is the opposite. Two thirds of apartments are built by private investors. This obviously results in an increase in property prices. housing. We should try to reverse the trend.”explains Martin Orner, head of housing policy at the NGO.
“The main solution would be to obtain more land and possibilities to build social housing”.
Other critics claim that waiting lists for access to social housing are growing.
Social housing in Vienna: a century-old history
Despite its limitations, the social housing model seems anchored in the city’s identity.
We visited a permanent exhibition on the so-called “Red Vienna” period, in the 1920s and 1930s. According to the museum’s curators, the social democratic model of the time shaped the urban development of the city as well as its cultural and social character, and it continues to shape the contours of its present today.
“It was a city within a city and people had little need to leave their neighborhood because everything was available, including doctors’ surgeries, shops, etc.”says Lilli Bauer, co-curator of the exhibition.
“At the time, there were even health centers to combat tuberculosis in these municipal buildings. Likewise, today, during the (COVID-19) pandemic, the testing and vaccination locations were all very decentralized, spread throughout the city and easy to access”she adds
The city claims thatit continues to subsidize between 5,000 and 7,000 new apartments each year.