Group joined the Global Policy Leadership Academy to study Vienna's social housing system
Written by ABAG 91¹ú²úesident Belia Ramos
Over 6 days, I had the opportunity to dive deep into the social and political constructs of Vienna’s social housing system.
One hundred years ago, Vienna was considered the city with the worst housing in Europe. After a century of investments backed by political courage, Vienna is a city with a population of 2 million with virtually no homelessness. A combination of highly focused urban planning, land acquisition, land banking and continuous construction of new units (10,000+ per year), Vienna’s society is centered upon a housing first model.
Housing subsidies occur at the development stage, rents are capped and limited profit opportunities are built into the social framework. Once you are qualified for social housing, you are never reassessed for income qualification. Immigration and growth are accounted for and embraced in policies regarding social mixing. What exactly does that mean? It means you won’t be able to tell if a person lives in subsidized housing by their address. The result is a metropolis in which its residents are not housing burdened.
I also got to look at the imperfections of their system and I truly appreciated and found that to be equally powerful. Our communities also struggle with HOAs, property management and managing cultural differences. But navigating these challenges with the focus on planning, what the outcomes are going to be and how that affects the culture is an incredibly valuable approach.
I walked away with a better understanding of the different value systems that allow the Viennese to place housing at the center of their identity. Their focus is on equity as in equality and not equity as in capital. While not everything will translate to us here in the states, I sure did learn about some of the possibilities for addressing our housing crisis. With the potential of unlocking bond money for housing in the Bay Area, I hope that we can start to try out some of the Viennese housing solutions and adjust them to work for our society. The opportunities are out there.
I am grateful for this life-changing experience that has helped me learn about innovative housing solutions and given me a better understanding of the different perspectives and values that shape housing in a community.