Mayor Ludwig:

“A separate minister for housing would be good”

Michael Ludwig proposed an EU Commissioner for Housing. "I was delighted that this suggestion was taken up by President von der Leyen."

(Bild: Bissuti Kristian/KRISTIAN BISSUTI)

In an interview with the "Krone" newspaper, Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig promises more apartments and a "capital bonus" for police officers and explains why he thinks a minister for housing would be a good idea. 

"Krone": One of the biggest issues and problems facing Austrians is affordable housing. Or rather: housing that is no longer affordable. We are facing a real housing shortage, as top developers such as Karl-Heinz Strauss from Porr confirm. You have the municipal buildings in Vienna, but what else are you doing?

Michael Ludwig: We are a great international role model with our municipal social housing. We have 220,000 municipal apartments and 200,000 rental and cooperative apartments subsidized by the City of Vienna, but we are not resting on our laurels. We have taken the next step by stipulating that two thirds of all new apartments must be subsidized in order to ensure that young people and young families will be able to afford apartments in an attractive city with over a million inhabitants like Vienna in the future. This is an issue that is generally important in Europe: I have therefore proposed that there should also be a commissioner in the next EU Commission who deals with housing. I was very pleased that this suggestion was also taken up by Commission President von der Leyen. In Vienna, we have set ourselves the target of building around 5,500 to 6,000 new homes per year.

However, you will not be able to achieve this alone, you will also need private investors. There seem to be problems with loan financing or approval procedures.
We have been working very closely with private investors and developers in Vienna for many decades: in new construction, but also in refurbishment. For five decades now, we have been carrying out gentle urban renewal, where we have assumed a large part of the costs when private individuals renovate their residential buildings, for example Wilhelminian-style houses. This is the reason why the cityscape in Vienna has been preserved and why we are one of the cities with the highest proportion of Gründerzeit buildings. In addition, there is now the thermal-energetic renovation of residential buildings. Building and housing are responsible for 40 percent of CO2 emissions, and we have had mandatory low energy building standards in subsidized housing for many years. We combine this with investments in geothermal energy and photovoltaic systems, of which we are building the equivalent of 100 soccer pitches per year: on official buildings, schools, hospitals, but also residential buildings, where we support private individuals. The German Environment Minister Robert Habeck was in Vienna and was asked what fascinated him most about Austria. He mentioned the large district heating pumps in Simmering. I'm not giving away any secrets when I say that we in Vienna will succeed in making ourselves independent of Russian gas sooner than other parts of Austria.

"Krone" super department head Rainer Nowak in conversation with Vienna's mayor Michael Ludwig

(Bild: Bissuti Kristian/KRISTIAN BISSUTI)

In the district heating sector, this leads to a monopoly position for Wiener Energie, doesn't it?
We have a liberalized energy market. District heating is subject to strict price controls. There are more than 600 large and medium-sized producers in the district heating sector throughout Austria. But (to my knowledge) the costs for district heating in Vienna are in the lower range in relation to the other producers of district heating.

The EU is getting a housing commissioner, don't we need a housing minister in view of the difficult situation?
This has happened before. In principle, I think it would be good to have a person at federal level who takes a closer look at the issue. Even if much of the responsibility lies with the federal states, it is of course also a question of how to create a framework so that the federal states can work together with developers and investors to provide appropriate housing.

The next problem is the sharp rise in unemployment. Obviously, confidence in the industry that things will improve is dwindling.
Unfortunately, you are absolutely right, I am very concerned about this issue. Unemployment is rising very sharply. In Vienna to a lesser extent than the Austrian average, but that is no consolation for us, we are not only the economic engine for our province, but for the entire eastern region. Negative effects in the other federal provinces are also reflected in Vienna. I see with great concern that the economy is withdrawing strongly from the training of apprentices. These are skilled workers that we will lack in four or five years' time. We will therefore increase the number of apprenticeships in the city of Vienna in order to give young people a chance for their future lives.

In Vienna, you work closely with Walter Ruck and the Chamber of Commerce. Would this model also be good again at federal level, more social partnership and a grand coalition?
I am a big fan of the social partnership(s) and many in Europe envy us for that. Reasonable forces should come together at federal level, especially in a crisis situation like this.

On the subject of security: you want to take over the Vienna police force from the Ministry of the Interior? Isn't that a bit retro? The police and gendarmerie were merged for good reason, to save on chiefs and structure.
We also have the other blue light organizations within the city. I'm thinking of the professional rescue services and the professional fire department: these are very demanding professions that are also dangerous. Nevertheless, we have no problem finding staff. It's only with the police that this doesn't work. That is why we have been calling for more police officers for many years - and although the population has increased in Vienna, we have fewer, not more, police officers who can work on the streets. If the federal government doesn't succeed in getting more people for the visible service on the streets, then I'm prepared to take over. I would be in favor of paying police officers a capital city bonus if they are willing to work here. We had 11,000 events and demonstrations in Vienna last year - not against the city government, but against the highest organs of the Republic. It is obvious that this means that police officers are required to work differently here than in other parts of Austria: over a million hours of overtime last year are proof of this. I am also in favor of improving the general conditions in public spaces by introducing a general law on the possession of weapons, and since then a total of 360 weapons have been confiscated at Praterstern, including more than 300 knives. Nobody can explain to me that you have to carry a firearm or a stabbing weapon in public spaces. And you're not going to clean your fingernails with a machete.

Briefly on the SPÖ: How unhappy is the Mayor of Vienna about the letter from close companion Doris Bures criticizing Andreas Babler's election program that has become public?
All members of the presidium and executive committee have been invited to submit proposals in writing. President Bures did so, with very constructive contributions: for example, that we should concentrate on fewer issues in the election campaign and, unlike the other parties, need a credible counter-financing model.