New blog post: The political economy of demolition.

I’m reposting a blogpost that discusses the recent rise of demolitions in Vienna. I’m approaching it from a political-economy perspective and situate demolitions within the wider development of Vienna’s housing market since the mid-2000s. The post originally appeared on urbanizm.net.

Die politische Ökonomie des Hausabrisses

Mit 1. Juli wurde also die Wiener Bauordnung novelliert. Hausabrisse sind damit auch außerhalb von Schutzzonen genehmigungspflichtig. Die Verschärfung soll den Abriss von Gebäuden in Zukunft erschweren bzw. der Stadt mehr Eingriffsmöglichkeiten bieten.

Continue reading →

New Publication in PROKLA.

I’ve published a new paper together with Lisa Vollmer from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in the current issue of PROKLA – Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft. The paper is entitled “Wohnungspolitik in der Krise des Neoliberalismus in Berlin und Wien. Postneoliberaler Paradigmenwechsel oder punktuelle staatliche Beruhigungspolitik?”. It evaluates post-crisis housing policies in Berlin and Vienna in light of current debates on post-neoliberal housing policies. I’m posting the short abstract below:

Against the backdrop of rising housing problems and protests, the comparative paper asks to what extent a paradigmatic shif in housing policies towards greater decommodifcation of housing has been initiated in Berlin and Vienna. Recent housing policies in both cities are discussed and evaluated with reference to the emerging debate about post-neoliberalism in housing.

The paper is part of a special issue “Zur (neuen) Wohnungsfrage” put together by Inga Jensen, Sebastian Schipper, Dorothea Schmidt and Sandra Sieron. You can download it here: http://prokla.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/prokla191-vollmer-kadi.pdf

The whole special issue is available here: http://www.prokla.de/2018/06/15/editorial-prokla-191/ 

New interview with Austrian Tenant Association.

I’ve given a longer interview for the magazine of the Austrian Tenant Association “Fair Wohnen”. We talked about the current problems on Vienna’s housing market, gentrification dynamics in the city, displacement, investment patterns, as well as the plans of the new Austrian coalition government and what they may mean for tenants in the city. The magazine is available for download here (interview with me from page 22 on): https://mietervereinigung.at/App_Upload/Backend/FairWohnenItems/FAIR_WOHNEN_2_2018.pdf

 

Talk and interview: Housing policies in Austria. Where are they headed?

I’ve recently given a lecture at the symposium “Markt oder Staat? Wohin steuert die Wohnungspolitik?”. The event was organized by the Verein für Wohnbauförderung. It aimed at discussing recent developments of housing policies in Austria in the context of the reform plans of the new coalition government. There was a set of very interesting national and international speakers, among them Andrej Holm, urban sociologist from Berlin, who talked about the mounting housing affordability crisis in Berlin. I contributed a keynote on recent developments of Austria’s housing market, challenges for the production of subsidized housing and possible impacts of the planned housing policy reforms. The talk was picked up by a number of media outlets. I’m posting the links below.

DerStandard: Stadtforscher: Untere Einkommensgruppen werden verdrängt 
Die türkis-blaue Regierung legt den Schwerpunkt in der Wohnungspolitik auf Eigentum. Experten für gemeinnützigen Wohnbau befürchten finstere Zeiten für Mieter und immer weniger leistbaren Wohnraum
derstandard.at/2000077611874/Stadtforscher-Untere-Einkommensgruppen-werden-verdraengt

DiePresse: Wohnpolitik: SPÖ warnt vor “Entwicklungen wie in England”
Die Regierung wolle “Gewinne für neoliberale Kräfte generieren”, kritisieren vor allem sozialdemokratische Referenten bei einer wohnpolitischen Tagung in Krems.
https://diepresse.com/home/wirtschaft/economist/5401119/Wohnpolitik_SPOe-warnt-vor-Entwicklungen-wie-in-England

Wiener Zeitung: Steigende Angst vor zu wenig leistbaren Wohnungen
Liberalisierung des Mietrechtsgesetzes führt zu höheren Mieten, warnt TU Wien-Experte.
https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/957142_Steigende-Angst-vor-zu-wenig-leistbarem-Wohnraum.html

New publication: The business with the holiday homes. Airbnb in Wien.

I’ve contributed a short text on Airbnb in Vienna to the current issue of the journal Mieterecho, journal of the tenant association Berlin. The text is co-authored with my colleagues Leonhard Plank and Roman Seidl. It briefly sketches our research project on Airbnb in Vienna, specifically focusing on the business model for real estate investors behind the home-sharing platform. The text is available here: https://www.bmgev.de/mieterecho/archiv/2018/me-single/article/geschaeft-mit-ferienwohnungen.html

 

 

New publication: Tourism in the digital city. The business behind Airbnb.

I’ve contributed to a short text entitled “Tourism in the digital city: The business behind Airbnb”. It is about how Airbnb is increasingly becoming a lucrative investment and a new means for investors to extract profit from tourism. The text was co-authored with Roman Seidl and Leonhard Plank and draws on our recent research on Airbnb activities in Vienna. It appeared in the German journal “Forum Wohnen und Stadtentwicklung”, published by the Bundesverband für Wohnen und Stadtentwicklung, in an issue on “Tourism and urban development”. Our text can be downloaded here (in German):

https://www.vhw.de/fileadmin/user_upload/08_publikationen/verbandszeitschrift/FWS/2018/2_2018/FWS_2_18_Seidl_Kadi_Plank.pdf

The whole issue is available here:

https://www.vhw.de/publikationen/forum-wohnen-und-stadtentwicklung/aktuelle-ausgabe/

 

 

New radio interview: Evictions in Vienna.

Every day seven households are evicted in Vienna. Public debates about this issue are, however, scarce. Georg Pöchhacker has produced a fascinating radio feature about the reasons, practice and consequences of evictions in Vienna. I was very happy I could contribute a bit through an interview based on research I did together with Mara Verlic (We digged out the numbers about evictions, see here https://urbanizm.net/28360/wohnen-in-wien-einblicke-ins-verborgene-teil-1-delogierungen/)

The radio show is available for streaming. I’m posting the link together with a short intro text below. Continue reading →

New blog post: Study on affordable housing in Austria with methodological problems.

There’s growing public debate about affordable housing in Austria. Available empirical research on the issue, however, is scarce. The real estate platform Immobilienscout24.at has published a short report, which was also widely covered in the media. It provides current numbers, but has methodological problems. I’ve written a short post about it on the blog www.urbanizm.net. I’m reposting it below.

Studie zu Wohnleistbarkeit mit methodischen Schwächen

Leistbares Wohnen wird momentan viel diskutiert in Österreich. Die verfügbare empirische Datenlage ist gleichzeitig äußerst mangelhaft. Die Immobilienplatform Immobilienscout24.at hat dieser Tage eine kurze Analyse veröffentlicht (hier), die auch in diversen Medien aufgegriffen wurde (z.B. im DerStandard hier oder in DiePresse hier). Mit aktuellen Zahlen, aber methodischen Schwierigkeiten. Continue reading →

Our symposium on affordable housing at TU Wien.

Last week our institute organized a symposium on the challenge of providing affordable housing in cities at the TU Wien, together with Urban Forum and Österreichische Städtebund. The event was a big success, with more than 150 people attending. The newspaper Wiener Zeitung published an article about the event here:
https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/wien/stadtleben/950473_Eine-Ressource-fuer-die-Elite.html

The program can be found here:
http://www.ifip.tuwien.ac.at/veranstaltungen/ifip_jahrestagung_2018/programm_2018.htm