Europe’s Housing Crisis as a Socio-Environmental and Legal Challenge

Research field: Cities in the Context of European Integration and Globalisation

In recent years, the housing crisis has become Europe’s key social policy challenge. Both across the EU and in Austria, the lack of affordable housing is most frequently cited as an ‘immediate and urgent problem’ by city dwellers. In fact, residential property prices in the EU rose by over 60 per cent between 2013 and 2024, whilst rents increased by around 20 per cent. At the same time, investment in housing supply fell significantly. In Austria, for example, residential construction activity in new-build projects has slumped by 40 per cent over the past ten years, with social housing construction also recording a substantial decline recently. However, the availability of affordable, sustainable and high-quality housing is not ‘merely’ a social issue. It is, for example, also closely linked to the creation of a city based on short distances and the just transition to climate-neutral and climate-resilient cities in Europe. The ‘Vienna Model’ is often regarded as a benchmark for housing policy in cities across Europe and beyond. The European Commission’s (EC) recent European Plan for Affordable Housing also cites Vienna as a model for affordable, high-quality housing. Despite this special status, however, Vienna – like other European cities – faces a number of challenges. These relate, for example, to new-build housing (rising land and construction costs, demographic changes, etc.), but also to shortages resulting from short-term lettings and vacant properties.

The project focuses on how the City of Vienna is currently addressing these challenges and to what extent the measures set out in the EC’s plan can contribute to the continued availability of affordable, sustainable and high-quality housing in Vienna.

Project lead: Univ.-Doz. Dr. Stefan Mayr, LL.M.