Housing First: Austria has the model – but not the solution

About 21,000 people in Austria are currently without a home, and an unknown number live outside all social contracts and registers. Austrians have not escaped higher cost of living and rising rents, and with increasingly strong xenophobic parties in the country, the distinction between natives and immigrants has been marked. Those who have not been registered in the city for at least two years will no longer receive a housing contract with the municipal housing foundation Wiener Wohnen. Today, homelessness in Vienna consequently affects refugees and migrants from poorer neighbouring countries such as Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to a large extent.

That said, politically, there is still agreement on the great value of public housing. The so-called ‘Vienna model’ is still a model for other European countries, and the construction industry travels here to learn how to build new and preserve old for a cheaper price. Austria is deemed to have the recipe for success, but still is not fully successful.

“Austria’s model of public and social housing is rightly internationally praised, but the number of homeless people also shows that the model often does not reach those who need it most. In fact, homelessness has increased for several years in a row.” This is Elisabeth Hammer’s, CEO of the social organisation Neuenerhaus and chairman of the board of BAWO, Austria's gathering body for homelessness organisations, conclusion. According to Hammer, the increase in homelessness is due to the new barriers to entry, a kind of sorting that excludes non-citizens.

“Under the pretext of economic pressures or wholly because of ideological beliefs, political decisions threaten to undermine Austria’s welfare system. When social benefits or housing subsidies are reduced, it becomes increasingly difficult for people close to or below the poverty line to afford housing,” says Hammer.

At the same time, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs has made Housing First a priority issue. The current government is committed to further promoting the model: “a step we hope will be implemented in practice,” says Hammer, who views the tendency for politicians to give with one hand and take with the other with concern. “On the one hand, we are building Housing First programmes, and on the other hand, we are minimising the financial prerequisites for people to live in a stable place and find a way out of difficult situations.”

Hammer calls for a secure and consistent policy. In a country like Austria, where the model exists, she believes that it is entirely possible to find housing for everyone.

In order to trace the background of the housing policy that built the Austrian welfare system, we must rewind about 100 years to the cultural and social vision formulated during “The Red Vienna” (1919–1934): a combination of radical politics with extensive municipal investments and a Social Democratic egalitarian view of humanity where the disadvantage of the working class would be broken; a socialist ideal society in a capitalist state where three pillars carried the vision:

1. Housing socialism: 60,000 large municipal accommodations that would provide workers with homes with light, air and sanitation, but also the opportunity for a social life. It also housed common areas such as laundry rooms, libraries, preschools and green courtyards.
2. Public health: Maternity and childcare, free and nutritious lunch at school, expanded healthcare services.
3. The ideal of cultivation: Massive investments in public libraries, evening courses and artistic activities that would give more people access to culture and create a conscious and intellectual working class.

The vision was interrupted, but survived the fascist and Nazi years, and the ideology of a better, democratic and equal society is therefore still noticeable today. Nearly 80 percent of Vienna’s inhabitants live in rented apartments, seemingly with pride. The waiting time for an apartment is no longer than a year. A large part of rental apartments are rented out with subsidies/housing allowances, and special rules make it easier for people on low incomes and young people to get their own apartment.

In Vienna, you can’t see as clearly as in other cities of multi-millions who lives where. The low rents in public housing can be found in all districts, as can the beautiful houses from the second half of the 19th century, the Habsburg heyday. There is also something to be said about conservation in this context: nothing is demolished with eagerness. Houses are left to be renovated and improved in due time according to new needs. “Pop-on baroque” is a concept created by architects who designed functional modern conference rooms on the roofs of magnificent turn-of-the-century buildings.

In 2010, municipal politicians in Vienna were also convinced that Housing First was the way forward to combat homelessness. Methodical work with the model started. Several pilot projects were launched in 2012 with good results. Various cities followed Vienna’s example and in 2021, Austria joined forces nationally under the slogan “Zuhause arrived” (“To come home”). The state now works in close collaboration with civil society and charities under the stated goal that by 2025 homelessness would no longer exist in Austria – a goal that has reason to be adjusted. The ambition is instead now one with the EU’s stated goal of tackling homelessness in Europe by 2030.

In Sweden, Housing First has been around since 2010. Helsingborg Municipality was a pioneer; in 2012 Gothenburg introduced the programme, and Malmö did so the following year. But then things slowed down. By 2022, only 34 out of 290 municipalities had adopted the model. That year, Sweden also adopted a national strategy against homelessness with the goal of making Housing First the leading working method throughout the country.

Today, just over a third of the country’s municipalities have introduced the programme, at least on paper. It costs money to help people in the best way, and therefore it risks staying at ambition rather than becoming a reality, despite well-documented good and society-saving impact. To drive development further, the National Board of Health and Welfare has distributed millions in state grants to the municipalities.

Just like in Sweden, tenants in Housing First apartments in Austria pay their own rent and have the same rights and obligations as other tenants. They also benefit from the support and advisory teams that surround the programmes. Social workers, psychosocial health professionals, healthcare personnel and peer support specialists work side by side, guiding tenants on their way back to their own housing.

There are several programs in Vienna, and the largest, the Neunerhaus, employs 375 people, including 265 employees and 110 volunteers. They don’t meet the need, but they know that what is being done helps. There is a modern health centre with employed staff and a dental clinic where dentists work both voluntarily and as employees on Neunerhaus’ premises in the Margareten district. Likewise, a veterinary clinic staffed for a few hours a week next door to the café, which the organisation also runs with the help of volunteer efforts. Volunteering is also something that Austrians are highly encouraged to do.

“It is fully expected of those who have a secure existence to do something for a fellow human being who is less fortunate for a couple of hours a week,” says Claudia Poppe of street newspaper Augustin, whose editorial office and office are located in the same district.

But back to Housing First, where 93 percent of the tenants will continue to live in their apartments after the trial period and are then allowed to take over the contracts. The reason for this great success is that Neunerhaus, in 2017, founded Neunerimmo, a non-profit limited liability company and collective body for property management companies, landlords and external social and medical services. Neunerimmo acquires and supplies affordable and suitable apartments, and the social support is long-term: the tenants can also receive help and support after they have taken over the contracts.

Just over two hours westwards by train from Vienna, Salzburg is surrounded by Alpine peaks and beautiful as a stage set – but there are even people experiencing homelessness here, beyond the expensive hotels in the old town and the neighbourhoods where Mozart grew up. Housing First in Salzburg is primarily run through the VinziDach – Housing First Salzburg initiative, which has worked since 2012 to provide apartments to people experiencing long-term homelessness, who are often also mentally ill. VinziDach supplies about 10–15 rental apartments per year, and studies show that the model is effective here as well.

An analysis from 2025 shows that the project will relieve the health budget by at least €100,000 per year. In addition to the housing itself, support adapted to service users’ needs is offered by social services. VinziDach collaborates with Wohnschirm, a national Austrian programme that aims to prevent evictions and extend Housing First. Today, there are also demands from political circles to make Housing First permanent in Salzburg’s housing policy and to increase the number of apartments.

VinziDach also works to raise awareness about homelessness in Salzburg through workshops and counseling. January 2026 was unusually cold and the public was urged not to look away if they encountered a person living outdoors, but instead to guide them to one of the organisation’s facilities.

In the middle of the tourist trail, a stone’s throw from the Mirabell Palace with its beautiful gardens, there are signs on a side street to a courtyard and a small office. Before I can ring the doorbell, Samuel Kok sticks his head out of an open window and welcomes me in. He has been the operations manager for VinciDach in Salzburg for a few years and talks about the background: “The founder was a priest who wanted to do something about homelessness here. For many years, he voluntarily conducted his own survey of homelessness in Salzburg, and in 2011 he went to Amsterdam, where the model for what would be formed here was found.”

The priest’s social engagement granted him a prize of €1 million established by a private donor, a local developer, and with this money he started the Salzburg Housing First program in 2012 in collaboration with the municipality. Initially entirely paid for by the prize money, the City of Salzburg later contributed funds. Since 2019, the programme has been fully funded by public funds and incorporated into social services.

Samuel Kok says that the fact that the Vienna model has had a great influence and laid the foundation for the national Austrian Housing First initiative benefits everyone, but the programmes differ. “Here in Salzburg, the target group is primarily people with dual diagnoses who basically do not receive help from any other agency.”

Mentally ill people with severe substance abuse problems, who previously lived completely outside society in the mountains around the city, took up residence in cavities within the ancient city walls around Salzburg. It was these people that the priest began to map, and the approximately 100 people he found have housing today, according to Samuel Kok.

Since its inception in 2012, a total of 160 people have been given a roof over their heads. New people supervene, but they no longer live in the mountains and they do not have dual diagnoses. Instead, they live in the alleys of Salzburg, in basements, or along the river, which makes them more visible and easier to help. The face of homelessness has shifted.

“A man had been living homeless in the alleys of Salzburg for 30 years and completely off the grid when we made contact with him. When we first met him, we couldn’t believe it,” says Kok, who adds that the man is now 70 and has a home and a fixed pension.

As in Vienna, the rate of homelessness in Salzburg has recently been spiking. Today, about 200 people in the municipality are experiencing homelessness. In addition, there are 1,300 so-called structurally homeless people lacking a permanent address. And this is where the problems the two cities face begin to differ. There are few vacant rental apartments in Salzburg, where 75 percent are privately owned. The country’s richest people live here, and housing is expensive.

“And if you look at the 25 percent that remains, 99 percent would still be too expensive – if they were left free,” says Kok, adding that Salzburg’s local settlement rules are also far stricter than Vienna’s. “You have to be able to prove that you have lived here every day for five years, or for 15 years in total. This also applies if you live in the nearest neighbouring municipality. There are many people that we would like to help, but the rules prevent us from helping them.

“Private owners of large, old, empty house complexes are another problem. Around 10,000 apartments could be renovated and rented out, but are owned by people who neither want nor have the need to invest in their properties. In Salzburg, there are a total of 75,500 apartments, so a large percentage go unused. For every rentable apartment that appears in Salzburg, there are around 2,000 people actively searching.”

And when it comes to new construction, the trend is clear, according to Kok. “Construction here is only for tourists and people with money, not for Salzburgers who need somewhere to live.”

But the population has grown tired. This was clearly shown in the latest election, when the Communist Party received as much as 20 percent of the votes. Linked to the housing situation, they won votes for the Social Democrats.

There are only three aid organisations at present for the growing group that has not yet qualified for their own housing. "There’s us (VinciDach), Caritas and a shelter.” VinciDach has three employees: Kok and two other social workers.

In the university city of Graz (Austria’s second largest city), there has been a Housing First programme exclusively for women since December 2013. Team leader Andrea Guégan-Knafl says that the reason for this was that the city’s women’s shelters were full. This sparked a broader discussion about what would best help these women, often mothers with children.

Her office and that of the other social workers is located next to a huge cemetery in an industrial area a bit outside the centre of Graz. With the ambition to answer as correctly as possible, Andrea Guégan-Knafl sighs when asked what homelessness looks like in Graz. “Our statistics so far are, unfortunately, poor – a study done in 2016 exists, but I don’t know how true it is today.”

However, she can determine the most common cause of homelessness among women, and it is recognisable: separation and divorce. Many also suffer from mental health problems and lack stable employment. "Often, they have experience of homelessness from their own childhoods.”

Domestic abuse is a topic that has been on the political agenda in Graz, which has a relatively strong feminist movement in a generally patriarchal Austria. Still, the Housing First programme for women lacks sufficient political support, according to Andrea Guégan-Knafl.

“Politicians and people in general do not always see the connection and therefore do not understand the importance of having programmes specifically for women. It is easier to find housing for a homeless man than for a single woman, with children, who is at risk of being exploited, involuntarily pregnant and so on.”

The support offered to women through Housing First in Graz is tailored to each woman’s needs. In addition to finding an apartment, it can include assistance with moving into a new home and working towards goals to maintain housing and achieve independence, as well as support with financial matters, debt counselling, health issues, or questions about work and leisure activities.

The results speak in favour of the initiative, and Graz has inspired others. For example, In Innsbruck, there has been a similar operation since 2021. The success of Graz’s programme for women is largely due to the city’s influential and feminist mayor, Elke Kahr, who represents the communist party KPÖ. But Andrea Guégan-Knafl still describes a fragile social safety net. The political winds can quickly turn: “Our programme for women is paid for and guaranteed by our current mayor, another programme is supported by the state, while a third has been closed down by the regional government, which is controlled by the extreme right, unlike Graz.”

Socialist thinking, “Red Vienna”, the Vienna model and the national Housing First initiative have so far stood the test of time and have made an impression far beyond Austria. A few years ago, the report ‘The Vienna Model – inspiration for a new social housing policy (Arena Idé 2019)’ was widely disseminated, and as recently as February 2026, the model was once again highlighted as an example in a report from Dagens Arena – “The Vienna Model for young people” – with an emphasis on young people’s opportunities to establish themselves in the housing market.

The analysis is based on young people’s actual experiences and shows that Vienna’s extensive public and non-profit housing sector contributes to lower rent levels and shorter waiting times. But it is also noted that the Vienna model is not perfect. Young people moving to Vienna from other parts of Austria or other countries must meet entry requirements to access Vienna’s municipal rental apartments. Requirements for own contributions for certain types of apartments are also an obstacle for young people, as they have lower incomes.

In the liberal-conservative Svensk Tidskrift (September 2025), Martin Gundinger highlights that Vienna's housing market is a “system of controlled compromises with clear winners”.

Gundiger, a senior researcher at the Austrian Economics Center, supposes that the favourable low rent sets in Vienna are indeed true, but that the system by no means covers everyone. Instead, it has created a division between those who have already secured subsidised housing and those who have to navigate a completely different market. Furthermore, he believes that the waiting time for a rental apartment for those who meet the requirements can be significantly longer than the stated maximum of one year.

“Housing is not distributed according to price, but according to queues and bureaucratic processes,” Gundinger writes, asserting that the system is inefficient. Those who land outside the entire queue system end up in the smaller private rental market, where the price picture is completely different. In this way, the public housing sector has created a protected class of tenants at the expense of outsiders.

Within the public housing sector, Wiener Wohnen, there are also problems with neglected maintenance and operating costs that far exceed the rental income, which must then be covered in another way. It is largely through a one percent tax that is paid by both employers and employees to the subsidised sector.

Furthermore, Gundinger believes that social integration, which is a central principle of the Viennese model with income distribution in all areas, has an Achilles’ heel: namely, the rules for the period of residence, which can lead to the contrary and a new kind of injustice. The requirement for not being entitled to social housing is very high, almost SEK 600,000 in annual income after tax excludes, which in theory means that 75-80 percent of the population in Vienna can queue for the cheap rental apartments.

“Once a household has received a subsidised apartment, they have the right to continue living there indefinitely, regardless of future income increases,” Gundinger writes. In combination with the right to transfer leases within the family, the boundary is further clarified between those who are inside the system and those who are outside. In this way, a housing market with hidden inequalities is also part of the description of Vienna’s housing policy. Acknowledging these consequences is important for all cities that are considering using the Vienna model as a template, according to Gundinger.

Objections that do not contradict the conclusion that Vienna’s successful housing policy is a result of a long-term perspective, political continuity and a clear normative view of housing as a shared social responsibility.

Can we then conclude that Austria has succeeded with its model? Yes, at least enough to be exemplary. Is that enough? Well, no. Since homelessness is global and mobile and the solutions are often local, concerted efforts are needed to move forward. After 15 years, a new national strategy should now be formulated, according to the experts.

“We need sustainable conditions for social service organisations and providers of affordable housing to ensure that Housing First can be maintained and scaled up. In that respect, Austria is still at the beginning,” says Hammer.