The communicating vessels of sustainability and responsibility

A public housing provider, based in Innsbruck, NHT is part of the State of Tirol and of the city/municipality of Innsbruck. Overall, it manages around 17.500 homes, mainly rented apartments (79%) and less privately owned (21%), providing a home as well as other services, including park places, care centres etc. to almost 45.000 people thanks to the work carried out by more than 200 employees.

Just in 2014 NHT invested 114 million Euros for new construction and maintenance, generating thanks to its efficient practices additional social capital of 800.000 €. The overall strategy of NHT aims to create the largest possible profit per year, so that it can have the funds to support a responsible business model. It’s worth mentioning that in 2014 the own capital of the company amounted to 214 million €. These funds are used always bearing in mind the financial, ecological and social sustainability, making possible that:

1. For more than 75 years all pieces of developed land have been built without using any bank loans
2. Substantial (90.000 m2) parts of land, owned by NHT, remain undeveloped and available to address future needs
3. The high quality of homes is secured with constant renovation works that amount up to 23 million €

Dr. Klaus Lugger, director of NHT and Vice-Chair of the Housing Europe Observatory explains in his report foreword how the organisation understands its role:

“We take special care of the families, financially weaker groups, older generations and in general those most in need in the way we construct and administrate our homes. We think of ourselves as a protecting rather than as a “protected” sector. Committed to sustainability we want to give more to the next generations than what we’ve inherited from the previous ones.”

Browsing through the report one can easily identify quite a few achievements that prove that NHT is indeed on the right track to fulfil its mission as defined by Dr. Lugger:

• NHT delivers around 1.000 social homes per year
• Average rent is no more than 6,54 €/ m2
• Tenancy is generally protected both in terms of price as well as against dismissal
• The “One face to the customer” concept makes sure that every tenant has his/her own contact person
• 2.900 passive homes have already been built
• 14.800 m2 of solar panels are already in place in 5.200 homes

Apart from its ecological and financial responsibility, NHT is without doubt one of the most important factors for the regional job market and economy as a whole. Apart from its full-time employees, local companies carry out almost 98% of all construction works, resulting in a total expenditure or rather investment at local level of 193 million Euros per year.