Vienna's social housing as a role model for cities worldwide

London Deputy Mayor Tom Copley visited Vienna in March 2024 to learn about Vienna's housing policy.

The interest in social housing in Vienna is unbroken. Every year, delegations from all over the world come to Vienna to learn about the city's housing policy. The focus is on how social housing can be implemented so consistently and successfully over so many years. Major German cities are particularly interested, as are cities such as Montreal and, more recently, London.

London has had a housing strategy since 2018, which includes the affordable housing programme. For this reason, London's Deputy Mayor for Housing, Tom Copley, visited Vienna in mid-March and met with Deputy Mayor and Executive City Councillor Kathrin Gaál. The programme included visits to historic municipal buildings such as the Reumannhof as well as new, innovative housing projects such as Quartier Wolfgangasse and the Sonnwendviertel. The visit was rounded off with a tour of the "Red Vienna" exhibition in the famous Karl-Marx-Hof municipal building, the longest continuous residential building in the world.

Tom Copley was very impressed and now hopes to use the knowledge gained in Vienna to help tackle the lack of affordable housing in London.

Vienna's housing policy as a global role model

In total, about half of the two million inhabitants of Vienna live in social or subsidised housing.

When it comes to quality of life, Vienna consistently achieves excellent rankings. Affordable housing is a key success factor. In 2020, Vienna received the Netexplo Smart Cities Award for its "innovative, intelligent, networked and explicitly sustainable" housing policy. UNESCO has recognised Vienna's inclusive housing policy as a global model.

The "Vienna Model of Social Housing" has long been a travelling exhibition. The exhibition is currently on display in Slovenia and afterwards will be going to Senegal.