resident-oriented housing renewal

The objective: resident-oriented housing renewal

The goals as defined by the strategy of soft urban renewal according to the 1984 Vienna Housing Rehabilitation Act are:

1. "Soft Urban Renewal"
Priority of social criteria
Avoiding social segregation or gentrification
Avoiding forced change of ownership
Affordable rehabilitated housing

2. "Sockelsanierung" = Renewal of inhabited buildings
Distribution of responsibilities between owner and tenants
Tenants' participation
Tenant-oriented modernization schemes
Substitute housing offers

3. Subsidies (deriving mainly from national tax income)
Amount of non-repayable subsidies depending on existing standard of apartments (maximum ca. 90 % of total building costs!)
Allowances to low-income households
Controlled and limited rent increase
WBSF-point system: priority by social, technical and urban criteria
Equal subsidies to privately and publicly owned rental buildings

4. Single building approach/Area oriented renewal
No designated renewal areas with special subsidies
"Gebietsbetreuung" = area renewal offices to stimulate rehabilitation measures and to coordinate improvement of public spaces
"Blocksanierung" = block improvement schemes including housing renewal, improvement of public spaces and ecological measures

Main activities and achievements

The most significant renewal strategy is what is termed "Sockelsanierung" ("basic renewal"), i.e. preserving, improving and modernizing old housing-stock without moving tenants. Such projects include the renovation and improvement of the building in question and the modernization of the flats in accordance with the tenants' wishes. At the same time, preparations are made for the implementation of an overall housing improvement plan by installing the supply (electricity and/or gas) mains and disposal pipes required for future improvements and merging small flats into larger ones. This particular rehabilitation option largely takes into account the individual potentials and wishes of tenants. Therefore, "Sockelsanierung" has become the most popular rehabilitation scheme, with a share of 60 % of all subsidized renewal activities.

Today, one out of five dwellings in Vienna is located in a building that is already being renovated or will be refurbished in the near future. About 175.000 flats in more than 3.800 buildings have already profitted from subsidized renewal schemes. There is still a lot to catch up with, and funds are limited. But with total investments of about 2,91 billion and public subsidies of 2,54 billion urban renewal has also turned out to be a major economic factor that promises to open up a vast potential for the building industry but also for smaller area-based enterprises which can create new job opportunities in rund-down districts.

Organisation and wider strategy:
Developing models for co-ordination and conflict management

In 1984 the Vienna Land Procurement and Urban Renewal Fund (WBSF) was founded by the city-government. The Fund handles applications for subsidies and coordinates all rehabilitation activities. All applications are subject to examination by the Fund. Its second major task is to provide land for all assisted housing construction. The WBSF currently has a staff of 75. It is a corporation under the Fund Act and a financially independent non-profit institution.

Area Renewal Offices were established first in 1974, in Vienna. These offices, run by either private architects or by non-profit building associations and financed by the City, concentrate on counselling tenants and owners in matters of improvement and encouraging improvements and the creation of green courtyards; they also work out and implement planning-proposals for public and private transportation, for green and open spaces as well as for communal facilities; moreover the offices represent an important decision-making aid in district development and urban planning. Today thirteen "Gebietsbetreuungen" exist in densely built-up areas of Vienna. It is important to stress that, in order to avoid conflicting interests within the local community offices, they are strictly forbidden to carry out any planning or building in this special area.

Very much like the area renewal offices the so-called "Integrationsfonds" works mainly on a local level. It was founded by the city government only in 1993 in order to help to integrate foreigners and ethnic minorities into the Austrian society.

Such models aim at establishing platforms for decision making and for conflict management. This implies equal opportunities for everybody to take part in such discussions, i.e. weaker groups - as elderly citizens, minorities..... - have to receive professional support to defend their ideas and rights.

Current and future activities:
From housing rehabilitation to sustainable urban renewal

Although renewal policies have emphasized clearly on single housing renewal - thus targetting more specifically on those buildings in urgent need of repair (and at the same time with poorer inhabitants) - a first step towards an area based approach to urban renewal has been taken as early as 1974 with the establishment of the first "Gebietsbetreuung" (area renewal office).

Since 1989 block improvement schemes, i.e. the improvement of whole blocks of buildings with different owners aim at combining the improvement of flats with other measures like improving the living environment as well as backyard clearing, merging backyards of adjoining properties to lay out green spaces, creation of traffic reduced zones, preservation of small businesses compatible with residential areas, insuring neighbourhood shopping facilities etc. Landlords, shop owners and the people who live in the buildings concerned are all involved in developing the block improvement project right from the beginning. Through the planning, coordination and implementation phases detailled information, expert advice and specific project management are provided to insure that whatever conflicts may arise can be discussed and resolved openly and that everybody's interests are respected to the greatest possible extent. The project management is entrusted to area renewal offices or to special block improvement officers appointed by the Vienna Land Procurement and Urban Renewal Fund.

Block improvement schemes have proved to be successful instruments to stimulate sustainable renewal projects, including ecological improvements both of private and public spaces, self help activities organized by the inhabitants or by citizens' groups, traffic proposals, energy saving projects, etc. They are therefore to be further encouraged in the future.

Key good practice lessons

"Soft renewal" is first and foremost considered a socio-political task. It requires the careful judging of interests and the active integration into the renewal process of as many sectors of the population as possible. This leads to a new and broader form of public private-partnership which can be described as "distribution of responsibilities" between all parties involved - city administration, local authorities, landlords, tenants etc. For example, the landlords - private as well as public owners - are held responsible for the maintenance of the building itself; tenants decide upon the improvement of their apartments. And special intermediary organizations, as described later on, seek to establish platforms for decision making and compromising between differing wishes and demands.

These general objectives have had a significant impact on the organizational and legislative frameworks:

Decentralization: Decision making and financing procedures have been gradually decentralized from central (state) to local levels (communities, districts), in many respects even to the level of individual projects. Legislation has to a great extent followed this development. Decentralization has proved to be important both in terms of efficiency and of democracy.
Participation: Organizational structures developed within urban renewal projects have been introduced into the general legislation; for example participatory concepts have become part of the Tenancy Act, the Housing Improvement Act, city planning procedures, etc. It has become a political objective to develop participatory strategies on all levels of administration including an early information of citizens on new projects and an active involvement into the planning process.
Distribution of responsibilities: Politicians as well as experts have learned from urban renewal that efficiency depends largely on an active cooperation of all parties involved, and that authorities/owners/tenants/small business/etc. should have both rights and duties - including financial contributions - in the renewal process. This has had significant consequences for new planning laws - e.g. in the field of environmental policies.

by Wolfgang Förster, Municipal Department 50, Vienna City Administration