After the Gswb chaos

Another housing scandal would be fatal for Salzburg

Rust and mold: some Salzburg residents in subsidized housing may feel like second-class customers.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

The non-profit organizations are vital for Salzburg's housing market. There must not be a second Gsbw chaos - the problems are big enough without subsidized rental construction.

Thanks in part to the election campaign in Salzburg, word has probably gotten around about the effects of a tight housing market. In conurbations, housing is no longer affordable. People are moving to the countryside, the footprint on the way to work is getting bigger, green spaces are getting smaller. Young people are fleeing, and the necessary new workforce is opting for cheaper federal states due to the high cost of living. One might assume that the problems are big enough.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

But this is not the case: Gswb, Salzburg's largest non-profit housing developer and responsible for a good ten percent of all apartments in Salzburg with 25,000 apartments (see chart), has underlined with the latest scandal that the situation is far more precarious than expected, and not just for tenants.

Dozens of Gswb customers are still pouring their hearts out to the "Krone", complaining about the sometimes intolerable conditions in the cooperative buildings and a property management that is slow to react because it is completely overwhelmed. The impression is created that those who can make use of non-profit housing are second-class tenants or owners.

Gswb has to turn everything upside down in its operations

(Bild: EXPA/ JFK)

New construction rate has been falling significantly for years
Especially in times of high interest rates on loans and a sharp decline in construction projects, these signals are fatal. Non-profit housing, with 73,000 units, accounts for a good 30 percent of the overall Salzburg market. All experts agree that it has a price-dampening effect. However, the rate of new construction of non-profit housing has been falling significantly for years and, according to the Revisionsverband Österreich, is now only 20 percent in Salzburg and 35 percent in multi-storey housing.

Salzburg's new Housing Councillor Martin Zauner says that the new housing ordinance will "provide more funds for subsidized co-housing and ensure construction activity in this important area for 2024". It is also clear to Zauner: "Every percent more counts, more non-profit apartments take pressure off the tight housing market."