When the beggar debate in Vorarlberg reached its climax in 2015, racist and erroneous statements by politicians gave me food for thought. So I became acquainted with a social worker whom I met again in spring 2017. To my question at that time: what are the biggest problems of beggars in the country at the moment, whether the police, racism, finding a job … I got the surprising answer: housing. Many of the former beggars had found a job, but no one wanted to offer them a regular apartment. As a result I began to read specific information about housing in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

And quickly I was away from the Roma issue and fully absorbed in the problems of our society. In winter 16/17 860.000 people were homeless in Germany, according to BAG Wohnungslosenhilfe 2017. For household incomes below 700 € an average of 49 % of the income is spent on housing and related costs, according to Statistisches Bundesamt [Destatis] & Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung [WZB], 2016. The general recommendation is a maximum of 1/3.

And if you think that to solve this problem there is social housing, then you are wrong. In 2017, about 24 % of the housing stock in Austria was municipal and cooperative housing, according to Statistics Austria 2018, but the income thresholds are so high that over 80 % of Austrians are eligible. And this is the situation in Austria where 16% of households are at risk of poverty (<60% of median income) and 48% of these 601,000 households exceed the EU “housing cost overburden rate” threshold! This means that they pay more than 40% of their income for housing, according to Statistik Austria, Heuberger, Zucha, 2015.

So there is reason enough for me to find out more about the situation and work towards a possible solution for one segment of the problem!