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Austria HOUSING
After World War II, Austria's standard of housing was low, a
reflection of the historically low quality of urban and rural
housing, the poor economic development of Austria in the interwar
period, and the destruction during World War II. Overcrowding was
widespread, especially in urban centers and among the working
classes, and many living units did not have such modern
conveniences as running water, toilets, bathing facilities, or
central heating. In 1951, for example, only one-third of the
country's living units had running water; less than 31 percent
had a toilet on the premises; and only 11 percent had bathing
facilities. Stoves using coal, oil, or wood as fuel were the most
common forms of heating.
Since then, however, Austrian housing has improved
considerably. The number of living units has increased by 53
percent, although the population grew by just over 10 percent,
and almost all of the living units built since 1945 have all
modern conveniences. Furthermore, improvements have been made in
many of the living units built before World War II, although
there remains a clear gap between the overall standards of old
and new buildings. Seriously substandard housing--living units
with running water, but without toilets or bathing facilities on
the premises--has been reduced to less than 10 percent of the
total. Most of this housing is found in cities. Low-income
groups, such as the elderly, unskilled workers, and foreign
workers, are the most frequent inhabitants of substandard
housing.
As of the early 1990s, just over 55 percent of all Austrians
owned their own homes or apartments, either as private
individuals or under the auspices of ownership cooperatives. The
rate of home ownership is higher in rural areas than in urban
areas and higher in western and central Austria than in the east.
In urban areas, apartment houses are much more common than
single-family dwellings. Renting is more common in cities and in
eastern Austria. Renters have considerable legal rights that make
the termination of leases difficult and that provide for the
regulation of rents. The building and ownership of apartment
buildings by the municipal government is common in cities, such
as Vienna, which traditionally have social democratic municipal
governments.
By 1990 almost 10 percent of Austrians had a "second
residence," used predominantly for recreational purposes. These
second homes range from garden plots with huts
(Schrebergarten), located on the outskirts of the cities,
to old houses in rural communities and newly built one-family
houses in the country.
At the beginning of the 1990s, around 25 percent of an
average Austrian household's expenditures were for housing
(mortgage or rent and utilities). Another 25 percent went for
food (including alcohol and tobacco), and a further 16 percent
was spent on transportation (including automobile payments).
About 9 percent was spent on furnishings, 11 percent for
clothing, education, or recreation, and the remainder for
miscellaneous activities.
* * *
No scholarly work in English treats Austrian society as a
whole. John Fitzmaurice's Austrian Politics and Society
Today examines the development and roles of Austria's most
important sociopolitical organizations. Although they are
somewhat dated, a number of chapters from Modern Austria,
edited by Kurt Steiner, are good historical and in-depth
introductions to various aspects of Austrian society. Specific
chapters in Austria: A Study in Modern Achievement, edited
by Jim Sweeney and Josef Weidenholzer, offer a less detailed but
more current analysis of many facets of Austrian society. Lonnie
Johnson's Introducing Austria provides readers with some
general insights into the dynamics of the development of Austrian
society as a whole.
The Austrian government is responsible for a range of
informative publications. The Federal Press Service's small book
Austria: Facts and Figures is a good overview of the
country's society, economy, and politics. The service also
publishes a series of brochures in English and German that deal
with specific aspects of Austrian society such as immigration,
religion, education, and social security. These publications are
available from Austrian embassies, consulates, and cultural
institutes around the world. The annually revised Survey of
the Austrian Economy from the government's Austrian Museum
for Economic and Social Affairs in Vienna contains some social
data. Scholarly publications in German from the Österreichisches
Statistisches Zentralamt contain much information about Austrian
society. Particularly valuable are Sozialstatistische
Daten and Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Republik
Österreich, both of which appear on a regular basis. (For
further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1993
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