742 new apartments

“Village im Dritten” to alleviate Vienna’s housing shortage

The community building will be one of 17 new residential buildings in the future "Village im Dritten" on the Landstrasser Aspanggründe.

(Bild: Zwefo)

As an affordable "village in the city", the Aspanggründe are to become a showcase project for social housing in Vienna. However, even there, on one of the last inner-city sites that can be built on: It remains an offer for comparatively few people.

The city will often no longer have the chance to present a new district including a new municipal building - the necessary building land is slowly running out. Accordingly, the ground-breaking ceremony for the residential complex on the Landstraßer Aspanggründe - now "Village im Dritten" - was celebrated with great ceremony.

New district to be completed by the end of 2026
The complex with 146 apartments is due to be completed in two years. Completion of all other residential buildings in the new district between Gürtel and Rennweg is also planned for the end of 2026. In addition to the municipal building, a further 596 subsidized apartments will be built in the new district, most of which will be affordable smart apartments. The aim is to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing in Vienna in the long term.

The north-facing apartments in the new municipal building promise a view of the new Bert-Brecht-Park.

(Bild: Zwefo)

The rush for the new municipal building is likely to be great: In addition to the inner-city location, including a new AHS from fall 2027, there is the modern and climate-friendly construction technology and energy supply, as well as numerous communal areas as an extra, such as a private roof terrace with fitness equipment and a winter garden. Housing Councillor and Deputy Mayor Kathrin Gaál was "very, very proud because we have achieved something very, very good". "The housing initiative is working", she summarized.

The lion's share remains in privately financed housing
However, by no means everything in the "Village" will fall under affordable housing: A total of 742 subsidized apartments are offset by 1286 privately financed apartments, of which 435 are rented and 851 are owned. This is where the somewhat ideal world of social housing meets the reality of the real estate market: a micro-apartment measuring just 32.59 square meters - at least that's what it's honestly called - costs 297,000 euros. Nevertheless, Gaál believes that Vienna is well equipped to meet the growing demand for affordable housing, as she emphasizes in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper.

Hans-Peter Weiss, head of property developer ARE, municipal housing board member Paul Steurer, Deputy Mayor Kathrin Gaál and Wohnfornds Managing Director Gregor Puscher

(Bild: Zwefo)

"Krone": Shouldn't the city focus more on redensification instead of large-scale projects such as the "Village im Dritten"?
Kathrin Gaál: It needs both. It's true, of course, that apart from the Nordwestbahnhof, there aren't many large development areas left in the city. New construction and refurbishment must work well together. We have also created 800 new apartments at Wiener Wohnen through refurbishments and loft conversions.

"I can sleep peacefully"
The municipality is increasingly on its own when it comes to creating new living space. Can it work out?
It's challenging, but I can sleep easy, we're doing our homework: We are continuously working on our housing initiative with a total of 22,000 subsidized apartments. We are making more money available, we are providing more services, we have three million square meters of space for subsidized housing.

Overcrowding is also increasing in council housing. Do we need a different distribution of living space?
We regularly question this, and yes, in addition to the trend towards smaller apartments, there is also an increasing demand for larger apartments. We are responding to this. The new community building here in the 3rd district will also have more four-room apartments than previously built complexes.