Affordable housing for all? Challenging the legacy of Red Vienna

• Published in: Vienna pp. 53 - 67
• Main Authors: Litschauer, Katharina, Friesenecker, Michael
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2022
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Social Rental; Location Premiums; Van Duijne; Secure Housing; Rent Controls; Social Housing; Vienna’s Housing; Rental Prices; Affordable Housing; Statistik Austria; Rental Segment; Time Limited Contracts; Tenure Restructuring; Private Rental Housing; Redistributive Capacities; Tenure Security; Strict Rent Control; Housing Subsidies; Income Quintiles; Municipal Housing; Private Rental; Tenant Profiles; non-Austrian Citizens; Social Rental Housing; Housing Policy Reforms
• ISBN: 9780367680114; 9780367680138; 0367680130; 0367680114
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003133827-6

This chapter analyses Vienna’s status as a just city by focusing on the development of housing conditions (housing costs and tenure security). Although conditions have changed, our findings reveal that Vienna’s model of housing for all – characterised by both a large social housing segment as well as strict rent control in private rental – continues to provide affordable and secure housing for a broad section of the population. Nevertheless, a gap in the housing conditions within the private rental sector unfolds in Vienna, which increasingly excludes (low-income) newcomers from affordable and secure housing. This chapter analyses Vienna’s status as a just city by focusing on the development of housing conditions. Housing plays a particularly important role in social inclusion and urban justice, as it influences urban segregation and profoundly shapes people’s living conditions. Today’s housing policy in Austria came into existence after the Second World War and was developed within a framework of social policy and not only as a response to housing problems. Affordable housing is not only provided by social rental housing, but also rests on strict rent controls in the private rental segment. Migration and rising income inequality are two main urban transformations that put pressure on housing affordability in Vienna. This chapter set out to evaluate Vienna’s status as a just city by exploring access to affordable and secure housing. Vienna has a long history of promoting socially inclusive forms of urban development.