Because rents are rising and more and more people do not know how to finance their houses, the SPÖ is calling for various countermeasures. These include higher rent limits, for example, and those category and benchmark rents may not be increased by law until 2025. All in all, a new system is needed to enable affordable housing.
Prices for everyday life would be through the roof, deputy club boss Jörg Leichtfried said in a broadcast. He mentions electricity, grocery shopping in the supermarket and renting as examples. Housing would consume an increasing share of income, therefore tenants should not be taxed extra.
In concrete terms, there will be a universal rent law with upper limits for rent. Other proposals include a new rent development index or a cap of two percent per year and a law excluding the increase in category and benchmark rents until 2025. The consumer price is inadmissible here. “Why should rents go up because the price of wheat and gas is going up because of the war in Ukraine?” Leichtfried wondered. The recent increases would drive inflation sharply and harm the economy as a whole. For example, the politician finds wage and salary agreements more appropriate than the consumer price.
FPÖ speaks of “political schizophrenia”
Criticism comes from the Viennese FPÖ chairman Dominik Nepp. The benchmark rent freeze is “political schizophrenia”. In Vienna, SPÖ mayor Michael Ludwig himself raised the benchmark rent in municipal buildings. “That means that you have to pay about 200 euros more in rent for an 80 square meter community apartment in Vienna (…). Where red reigns, it is cashed in,” Nepp said in a broadcast. The federal SPÖ’s demand for cheaper rents is therefore “completely absurd and unbelievable”.
Source: Krone
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
