Vienna's housing wisdom
The meeting of affordable housing players at the Mayor's office
Vienna, Austria, 25 April 2024 | Published in Economy
The social and affordable homes dialogue also took place in a city Europe looks up to when it comes to housing people fairly. An easy guess? Yes, it is the City of Vienna.
At the Mayor's office, Housing Europe's President, Bent Madsen emphasised that the current housing crisis was unanimously acknowledged by ministers in Liège. He rightly pointed out the forgotten wisdom of the 60s, where the multifaceted nature of housing policy - its societal, health, and economic links - was understood. Bent reminded us that it is high time for deficit rules and public debt definitions to acknowledge that decent, affordable housing is an investment, not just ordinary spending. To him, speculation and financialisation, together with capital flows must also be scrutinised if we want to make a real change for ordinary households.
To monitor progress at city and country levels, our President called for the establishment of key performance indicators, but also asked for the fostering of yearly ministerial summits to tackle this challenge comprehensively.