Air conditioning banned – tenant: “It’s 38 degrees hot in my apartment!”

Without a fan in every room of her municipal apartment in the 21st arrondissement, Ingrid Gebhart would not be able to survive the summer. During long periods of warm weather, when it does not cool down even at night, the interior heats up enormously. “You can take a cold shower. But a few minutes later you’ll be sweating again,” says the 75-year-old. No wonder, because her apartment heats up to 38 degrees Celsius.

Arthur Paulasek lives in the same building. He also suffers from the heat. “After three years of construction, we now have thermal insulation. So far you haven’t noticed a big difference,” he says.

The installation of air conditioning is prohibited
The tenants of municipal housing have almost no opportunity to cool the apartment. The installation of air conditioning is prohibited and there is no connection to district cooling. The office of councilor Kathrin Gaál (SPÖ) again referred to the “shadow offensive”. After all, this is the best way to cool indoor spaces effectively and in a climate-friendly way.

40 degrees in the stairwells
However, the heat-stricken tenants see it differently. Because at air temperatures well above 30 degrees Celsius, external blinds – which are subsidized up to 1500 euros – do not work wonders. This is also known in the Anton-Schmid-Hof in Brigittenau. Here it is even 40 degrees warm in the stairwells.

Last week, an 80-year-old resident collapsed in her apartment and had to be rescued by ambulances.

“Krone” success: Windows should be able to open soon
The problem: the old windows won’t open or tilt! Presumably for fire safety reasons. But the “Krone” has already achieved success. Repair work to open the windows should begin immediately, according to Wiener Wohnen.