Ensure cohesion – Caritas warns: “Not arrived in the middle class”

The SORA study was carried out on behalf of Caritas. At a press conference on Thursday, Paar called for targeted and sustainable aid instead of one-off payments.

Especially those people who had too little money before the crisis were hit hard by the current price increases. At the same time, however, more and more people turned to the Caritas social guidance centers, which had previously done without support.

Caritas expands range
In Vienna alone, the number of consultations has halved. The Caritas food distribution points LEO now distribute 26 tons per week, after 17 tons per week in the previous year. Due to the crowds, the spending amount per household had to be reduced considerably and there was a freeze on the admission for new recipients. It’s not an earthquake yet, but the seismograph is already showing it, warned the executive Caritas director of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Klaus Schwertner. The Caritas have therefore expanded their range.

SORA researchers surprised by results
The feedback from the guidance centers is consistent with the results of the SORA survey. Some he would not have thought possible, SORA researcher Christoph Hofinger said at the presentation. More than half of those surveyed (1011 face-to-face interviews from September to early October) are concerned about the ability to keep their homes warm due to inflation. 41 percent fear that they will find themselves in debt if prices continue to rise. In the lowest income third parties, this is even 72 percent.

Nearly two-thirds are already cutting back on holidays, leisure and culture — potentially having a knock-on effect in the affected sectors, Hofinger said. A third of the parents surveyed are already saving to support their children. It’s not clear in the official statistics yet, but “the need is increasing,” Parr summed up.

According to Caritas, previous government measures have not worked in the long term
The measures taken so far by the government should help in the short term. In the longer term, however, they have died out and failed to prevent an increase in poverty, Schwertner warned. Further lighting is therefore necessary. “We need to make the welfare state poverty- and crisis-proof.” The current crisis is not just about cold apartments or empty fridges, but also about social cohesion in the country, Schwertner says. According to the SORA survey, 8 in 10 respondents also fear social cohesion if further measures are not taken to fight inflation.

Concerned about social cohesion, but great solidarity
percent of the respondents call for support in the first place to people at risk of poverty. In addition to one-off benefits, 83 percent are also in favor of a permanent increase in unemployment benefits and social assistance, which is below the poverty line of almost 1,400 euros. Even among those who don’t need to save now, it’s still three quarters.

Politicians should view these results as encouragement to implement long-needed reforms, Parr said. In any case, the planned valorisation of family and social benefits does not go far enough, and would remain below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold even after that. What is needed instead is an increase to a “poverty-proof level”. Unemployment benefits and emergency aid – both excluded from valorisation – must be raised to a subsistence level and social assistance must finally be restored.

Until the family and social benefits are valorized at the beginning of 2023, solutions are also needed for the fourth quarter of this year. And politicians must initiate additional support for heating costs. Parr argues here for an unbureaucratic solution, in which the federal government contributes to the existing systems of the states.