Slavica Salihbegovic's family is growing. So she did what anyone who lives in Vienna would do: She asked the city to offer larger apartments.
“At that time, I was pregnant with my first child,” she said. “I lived in a two-bedroom apartment…it was a nice building, but it was small for us.”
Salihbegovic enters the online portal, entering her income and requirements and ranks alongside thousands of other residents. Soon she was assigned a new apartment: a three-bedroom unit located in a brand new building next to Vienna Central Station.
It was her life–she could even pass it on to her children if she wanted.
“I love it. It's in the middle of Vienna,” she said. “Many young families move in at the same time… There's a large campus, a kindergarten and elementary school. There's a dance lesson, a boulder bar, and a huge park.”
Salihbegovic is not eager to find housing. She and her partner earn middle-class income. But in recent years, Vienna has become well-known among housing experts for its social housing model, which provides heavily subsidized rental units for more than half of the city’s two million residents.
The rents of these units contribute to €400 million (USD 626 million) of new buildings each year, and over 12,000 units are built or renovated each year, According to this city.
The struggle in Europe is similar to that in Canada Rises and house prices soarExperts say social housing models like Austria are the best defense against the growing affordability crisis and beg the government to continue to invest actively in such programs.
Can something similar come to Canada? This seems far-fetched, but housing experts in Europe say this is possible due to some relatively simple interventions.
No profit housing
Living around the corner of Salihbegovic is Amila Sirbegovic, architect and housing project leader in Vienna. She once owned an apartment but chose to sell and move back to social housing, and she said her unit was more modern and spacious.
Sirbegovic’s story is another example that sets European social housing apart: the qualifying criteria for generosity.
About three-quarters of Austrians fall under the income threshold, which means that many middle-class families can also get income-to-income housing – rents at a reasonable 25% income cap.
Salihbegovic said: “This is the most normal thing in Vienna.”
The various combinations of tenants mean that subsidized housing is almost without stigma. It also diversifies communities and ensures that urban housing can be used by key workers such as nurses, sanitation workers and bus drivers.
“You have people from different groups and different backgrounds living in the same community,” said Gerald Kössl, a policy expert at the Federation of Austrian Limited For-Profit Housing Associations.
“It’s not…a temporary housing solution.”
Kössl's organization represents groups that offer all of these low-cost housing – nonprofit or “limited profit” companies that are required by Austrian law to reinvest 3.5% of their profits.
The result is a “benevolent cycle” of community investment, says Samara Jones, the first European expert in housing.
Otherwise shareholders’ money is rewind to create high-quality and affordable homes and communities – and in turn there’s another one”Price damping effect“In the broader market, Coases said.
Austria is not a person using this model. Throughout Europe, governments manage partially subsidized housing stocks through large privately managed nonprofits.
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In the Netherlands, there are less than 300 nonprofit organizations nationwide, but this merger has not led to Problems you may find A common large, profit-oriented real estate investment trust in Canada.
On average, this is better than renting on private markets, said Zeno Winkels, director of the Dutch tenant union, which negotiated with the government to set rent limits nationwide.
By contrast, most private landlords are “amateurs.”
“It doesn't necessarily have to be negative. There are a lot of people making great cakes, but overall, when you want them, you go to the bakery.”
Place space
Of course, these nonprofits can’t run on rent alone – they won’t be able to afford it for the long term.
In such FinlandThe Netherlands and Austria have been backed by substantial government investment. Throughout Europe, governments have designed clever ways to reduce costs.
For cities like Vienna and Amsterdam, one of the biggest is through a “merger” policy that can actively acquire land when sold, allowing them to use it first.
Owning the land allows municipalities to require housing in key areas to be kept burdened for more than a century, rather than 20 to 30 years. Typically typical in Canada.
Land is still expensive for municipalities to purchase. However, in some places, such as the Netherlands, the government has given itself the right to add the cost of additional services from purchase prices (e.g., shaved roads and water), thereby cutting tens of millions of land costs to rezoning housing.
Government purchases also match stocks that nonprofits build and manage affordable housing.
Natalia Martinez, an expert at Spanish affordable housing provider Fundacio Habitat 3, said the investments help put them accountable – stable enough to continue investing in more buildings.
Canada seems to be interesting. Housing, infrastructure and communities in Canada launch Call for proposal On last month’s “Lease Protection Fund”, it aims to help nonprofits and other partners acquire and maintain affordable rental units.
“There aren’t many communities that have an income source that can affect their wallets,” said Adrian Dingle, director of housing development, raised the director of Roof Canada in Canada, an anti-HOMENTESS nonprofit Canada.
Think big
Experts say that expanding the definition of affordable housing in this way – and supporting it with low-interest loans could have a significant impact on Canada.
“I do believe in a period of hope for federal housing policy,” Dingle said.
But these same experts are almost consistent in rapidly increasing affordability, as it may be necessary to take more interventionist measures such as rent control, property accident taxes and high fees for second property.
They may cause controversy among some people, but they may work.
People living there say they offer an attractive, low-cost alternative as rents and prices for buying real estate rise. This is how housing cooperatives work and why we may start hearing more about them in Canada.
In the Netherlands, the Affordable Rent Act Mandatory formulas were established Used to calculate rent, which places an upper limit on some housing, reducing the average cost by 50% or more.
Overnight, real estate speculation slowed down and housing prices fell.
Like Austria, the Netherlands has also successfully requested that a high percentage of any new development be allocated to affordable housing – “at least 30%,” said Theo Stauttener, a partner at developer consulting firm Stad Kwadraat. This applies not only to cities, but also to suburbs, where single-family homes make up a large part of social housing.
Experts expressed doubts about the Canadian government's similar actions. The figures show that Canada is far behind – only 3.5% of Canadian housing is social housing, Compared with the average percentage point in Europeand Nearly 30% In places like Austria and the Netherlands.
“I'm not sure if the long-term plan exists or the political will,” said Sheldon Pollett, executive director of Canadian Rooftops.
But, nowhere to wait for someone else to solve the problem is working.
“We’ve been waiting for the private sector to fill this gap for a long time — but that’s not the case,” Jones said. “One lesson in Canada, of course, is: Don’t wait.”
For Viennese as lucky as Sirbegovic, it’s easy to find an affordable apartment, the first step is to change your mindset. “You really need to believe in social housing,” she said.
Martinez, in other words.
“How do we consider having a right in health care, education or our pension plan?” she asked. “Once we do this, we will be responsible for the government to create these conditions.”
