Mayor Ludwig: – “A separate minister for Housing would be good”

“Crown”: One of the biggest problems facing Austrians is affordable housing. Or rather, housing that is no longer affordable. We are facing a real housing shortage, as top contractors like Karl-Heinz Strauss from der Porr confirm. You have the municipal buildings in Vienna, but what else do you do?

Michael Ludwig: Internationally, we are a good example with our municipal social housing. We have 220,000 municipal apartments, 200,000 rental and cooperative apartments, subsidised by the city of Vienna, but we are not resting on our laurels. We have taken the next step: two-thirds of the new apartments should be subsidised in all repurposing to ensure that young people and young families can continue to afford apartments in an attractive city with more than one million inhabitants, such as Vienna in the region. future. This is a topic that is generally important in Europe: that is why I suggested that the next European Commission should also have a Commissioner who deals with housing. I was very pleased that this suggestion was also taken up by Commission President von der Leyen. In Vienna, we have set ourselves the target of launching around 5,500 to 6,000 new apartments per year.

However, you cannot do this alone; you also need individuals. There seem to be problems with the financing of loans or the approval process.
We have been working very closely with private investors and project developers in Vienna for decades: in new construction, but also in renovation. We have had gentle urban renewal for five decades now, in which we have borne a large part of the costs when private individuals renovate their residential buildings, for example houses in Wilhelminian style. This is why Vienna’s cityscape has been so well preserved and we are one of the cities with the highest proportion of houses in Wilhelminian style. In addition, there is now the thermal-energy renovation of residential buildings. Construction and housing are responsible for 40 percent of CO2 emissions, and we have been applying mandatory low-energy house standards in subsidized housing for years. We combine this with investments in geothermal and photovoltaic systems, of which we build around 100 football pitches per year: on official buildings, schools, hospitals, but also residential buildings where we support private individuals. German Environment Minister Robert Habeck was in Vienna and was asked what fascinated him most in Austria. He mentioned the large district heat pumps in Simmering. I am not revealing any secrets when I say that we in Vienna will be able to become independent of Russian gas sooner than other parts of Austria.

In the field of district heating, doesn’t this lead to a monopoly position for Wiener Energie?
We have a liberalized energy market. District heating is subject to strict price controls. There are more than 600 large and medium-sized producers in the district heating sector throughout Austria, which you can also compare here. However (as far as I know) the costs for district heating in Vienna are lower than those of other district heating manufacturers.

The EU is getting a Commissioner for Housing. Given the difficult situation, don’t we need a Minister for Housing?
This has happened before. In principle, I would think it would be good to have someone at the federal level who would pay more attention to this issue. Even though a lot of the power lies with the states, it is of course also a question of how to create the conditions so that states can work together with project developers and investors to provide suitable housing.

The next problem is the sky-high unemployment. Apparently the sector’s confidence in improvement is waning.
Unfortunately, you are absolutely right, this topic really worries me. Unemployment is rising very sharply. In Vienna, it is less than the Austrian average, but that is no consolation for us, we are not only the economic engine of our federal state, but of the entire eastern region. Negative effects in the other federal states are also reflected in Vienna. I am very concerned about the fact that the economy is withdrawing significantly from the training of apprentices. These are skilled workers that we will be missing in four or five years. We will therefore increase the number of apprenticeships in the city of Vienna in order to give young people a chance for their future life.

In Vienna you work closely with Walter Ruck and the Chamber of Commerce. Would the model be good again in the federal government, more social partnership and a grand coalition?
I am a big fan of social partnerships and many people in Europe envy them. Reasonable forces need to come together at the federal level, especially in such a crisis situation.

Security issue: Do you want to take over the Vienna police from the Ministry of the Interior? Isn’t that a bit retro? The police and the gendarmerie were merged for good reasons, to save on heads and structure.
We also have the other blue light organisations in the city. I am thinking of the professional emergency services, the professional fire brigade: these are very demanding jobs that are also dangerous. Yet we have no problem finding staff. It simply does not work with the police. That is why we have been advocating for more police officers for years – and although the population in Vienna has increased, we do not have more, but fewer police officers who can work on the streets. If the federal government does not succeed in making more people visibly available on the streets, then I am prepared to take that on. I would be in favour of giving police officers in the capital a bonus if they want to work here. Last year we had 11,000 events and demonstrations in Vienna – not against the city government, but against the highest bodies of the republic. It is clear that this leads to police officers being challenged differently than in other parts of Austria: the more than one million overtime hours last year are proof of this, and since then a total of 360 weapons have been seized at the Praterstern, including more than 300 knives. No one can explain to me that you have to carry a firearm or a stabbing weapon in public spaces. And you don’t clean your fingernails with a machete.

Briefly about the SPÖ: How unhappy is the mayor of Vienna about the public letter from his closest colleague Doris Bures with her criticism of Andreas Babler’s election manifesto?
All members of the presidium and the board of directors were invited to submit written suggestions. President Bures did so, with very constructive contributions: for example, that the election campaign should focus on fewer issues and that, unlike the other parties, a credible counter-financing model is needed.