Living in Vienna

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 925, 19 March 1930, Page 6

Living in Vienna

FLATS AT 71- A MONTH Unique Housing Scheme AN era of municipal housing appears to have dawned on the Continent of Europe. A description of what Berlin is doing in this direction appeared on this page not longago; but the policy being followed in Vienna opens up still more interesting possibilities. Flat construction on a huge scale is being undertaken by the municipality, and the rents charged are extraordinarily low.

In 1923 tlie municipality ot Vienna instituted a housing tax, levied on every flat in Vienna, in an effort to combat the housing shortage, which had been very acute ever since the war. For the working-class dwellings the tax was very low; for villas and luxurious fiats very high. Out of the revenue derived from this and other taxes the municipality decided, in September, 1923, to build 25,000 flats, and in 1927 another 5,000 were added. In the latter year a new building programme was adopted for the erection of 30,000 more flats during the period 1927-32. The total of 60,000 new flats would mean a 10 per cent, increase in the number of flats in the city. The flats ill these municipal houses vary in size and type. There is a type of flat with about 450 square feet of surface, consisting of a living-room, bed-room, and kitchen with a small ante-room; another type, slightly larger, consisting of one living-room, two small berdooms, kitchen and anteroom; and another larger type with two living-rooms, one bedroom, and kitchen. In addition there are some tiny flats for bachelors. Most of these flats are built in huge blocks; some of the newer municipal tenement houses contain 1,200 and even more flats. Some of the new blocks house 8,000 people —a, veritable small town in the city itself Passages were eliminated to avoid friction between tenants. Each flat has its entrance from the staircase. The municipality has taken good care to provide healthy accommodation. Each flat is beautifully equipped with modern gas hearths, central heating, electric light, a nice little pantry with built-in sinks and other conveniences. Great care is taken to provide plenty of free space dor the inhabitants, and at least 50 per cent, of the ground taken for building purposes must be left for courtyards'. Balconies—usually of large size—are provided, enabling the inhabitants to bask in the sun in the summer months in deckchairs. Each block has a garden, and the big blocks of over 400 flats are provided with roof terraces, partly for sun-bathing, partly for use as playing grounds for the children. In a great many of the buildings, swimming baths have been built for the children. There is a liberal provision of fountains in the courtyards, many of them decorated with excellent sculptures by firstclass artists. Houses with more than 400, tenants are equipped with a central laundry, with up-to-date washing machinery and central drying plant with steam heating. The fiats have no bathrooms, but each house has baths in the basement. A showerbath costs l?»d; a bath costs about sixpence. The rents charged by the municipality are remarkably low—about l|d a square metre a month, or an average of about 7s a month for each flat.. To this must be added a housing tax of Sd to 9d a month. This includes the charges of the coilcierge, light (in the staircase), cleaning, chimneysweep, and sewerage, but not heating or laufidry. The laundry costs are estimated at a shilling a week a flat In the large blocks there are special kindergartens for the children, equipped in the most modern way. Who lives in these houses? The principle which the Social Democratic municipality follows is • to have ali sorts of people in the houses, the

condition being that they have moder ate or small income. Rich people, the municipality argues, can buy flats lor themselves; it is therefore onlv foi- the poorer classes that these blocks must be reserved. No- distinction is made between manual or brain workers. The buildings are thus equipped mostly by the poorer working classes, but one may And many low-salaried State or municipal ofiicials, clerks, and others. In each huge block there is at least one doctor and a dentist, lor whom bigger flats, /vith suitable examination rooms or surgeries, were built. How is it possible that the municipality can give these flats at such low rents? There are several reasons. The Vienna Town Hall calculates the rents in such fashion that only the costs of maintenance, and not of amortisation, are included in the rents. Moreover, the municipality is building these houses not out of borrowed money, but out of taxes. This reduces the building costs. The real secret of the cheapness of construction, however, is the collective buying of building material and the direction of building operations tlirojxgh a central office.