Vienna successfully addresses housing shortage with public housing

Vienna, Austria has combatted housing shortages for over 100 years by constructing and maintaining public housing, known as Gemeindebau.

In the early 1920s, the city government responded to widespread housing crises and overcrowding by beginning a large-scale building program. By 1934, officials had completed 65,000 apartments, including large complexes like the Karl-Marx-Hof. Today, around 1.8 million Viennese residents, a quarter of the city’s population, live in approximately 1,800 Gemeindebau buildings with roughly 220,000 units.

The city also offers around 200,000 subsidized apartments through cooperatives. Vienna uniquely preserved its public housing stock while other cities sold theirs, allowing it to serve as a long-term example of consistent housing policy. These apartments offer long-term security to residents with unlimited rental agreements and without requiring security deposits or broker fees.

Vienna funds the construction, renovation, and maintenance of these buildings through rental income, housing loans, and government subsidies, though rising construction costs mean the system isn’t fully self-funded. One-bedroom apartments in Gemeindebau average around 350 euros per month, while three-bedroom apartments cost about 750 euros, providing an alternative to the high costs on the open market. However, access is limited to those who have lived in the city for at least two years and meet specific citizenship and income requirements.