Nationwide survey

Parties underestimate housing costs as an election issue

An overwhelming majority of the population is calling on the next government to take measures to curb the explosion in housing costs.

(Bild: APA/Barbara Gindl)

Rising housing costs are hardly an issue for the parties in the election campaign - but for two out of three voters it plays an "important role" in their voting decision, as a survey by Volkshilfe shows. The majority is even clearer when it comes to the demand for a rent cap.

Erich Fenninger, head of Volkshilfe, cannot explain why housing costs are hardly an issue in the election campaign. Concerns about this have long since reached the middle class and are of intense concern to citizens: "When the housing situation comes under pressure, it becomes personal." On average, one in two Austrians fear that housing costs could get out of hand, with 62% of young people fearing this - "dramatic" for Fenninger.

Eight out of ten call for a rent cap
The nationwide survey (1029 personal respondents, fluctuation margin 3.1%) shows correspondingly clear calls for political measures to counter the cost explosion. Since 2010, private residential rents have risen by 80%, while the total other inflation is "only" 50%. 78% of respondents call for the government to introduce "a permanent rent cap", while 84% call for "government measures to secure affordable housing" in general.

It is strange that housing policy is not a huge issue in the election campaign

Volkshilfe-Geschäftsführer Erich Fenninger

Bild: krone.tv

For Fenninger, the figures alone are an "appeal to the parties to formulate proposals for solutions". It's not just about "poor people", he emphasized, referring to the survey results: Even people with a monthly income of over 3500 euros are three quarters calling for government measures to secure affordable housing. He warns: "If the housing question is answered badly, then it becomes a question of social work. We are already seeing this every day."

Vienna figures a "puzzle"
For Tanja Wehsely, head of Volkshilfe Wien, it is also clear: "A successful life is only possible with affordable housing, otherwise it will be difficult". For her, it is significant that nobody talks about "housing", but all the more people talk about "real estate" or even "concrete gold": "When something becomes a commodity, then it always becomes 'the 99 percent' (of the population, note) against the 'one percent'."

What is also remarkable about the survey is that the figures for Vienna - with an incomparably high proportion of rents compared to the rest of the country on the one hand and an equally incomparably high proportion of non-profit housing on the other - do not differ from the rest of the country. Wehsely also admits that this is "a bit of a mystery" to her. Apparently, people in social housing also find their situation just as dramatic as those in private tenancies because they lack comparability. Furthermore, "gratitude is not a political category".