Widower against leader

The next round in the housing match has begun

Too few non-profit apartments in Vorarlberg - an issue for years.

(Bild: FOTOKERSCHI / KERSCHBAUMMAYR)

When it comes to housing in Vorarlberg, the two parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, are currently at loggerheads. 

Head against widower, that is far from brutal, but it is the political duel of this year's summer (hole). As reported, the leader of the Ländle Social Democrats was furious that the ÖVP's housing spokesman and mayor of Thuringia, Harald Witwer, had recently accused him of pursuing "announcement politics of the worst and most dubious kind". Leiter promptly countered and accused Witwer, among other things, of not having built "a single non-profit apartment" in Thuringia during his time in office.

The two state politicians now seem to be biting into each other like two loose terriers, as Witwer was infected by Leiter's anger and naturally responded once again to the criticism from the red corner. He said that Leiter's claims were "simply wrong" and that two projects had been realized in Thuringia together with Vogewosi during his term of office, 50 apartments had been built in this way - and had already been handed over to the tenants. In addition, a third housing project is currently being implemented.

Witwer garnished his written response to Leiter with a party-political punchline. He quoted Vienna's former mayor and Leiter's party colleague Michael Häupl with the words: "Election campaigns are a time of focused unintelligence." It is questionable whether Leiter will take this retort lying down...

Dispute over mistakes in non-profit housing
The background to the dispute is the blatant lack of non-profit housing in the country. The SPÖ claims to be able to shape the framework conditions in the next legislative period in such a way that no fewer than 11,000 new apartments could be built, while the ÖVP considers this to be illusory.