Councilmember Jamie Gauthier's recent trip to Vienna reaffirmed some of her ideas about Philadelphia's housing policy.
, which transformed the city from the center of an ancient empire to the capital of a small nation. Following the war, a Social Democratic government took power and raised taxes on elites — who had nowhere else to go — and used it to buy up land across the city at huge discounts. The government proceeded to build tens of thousands of public housing units, which still exist today.
The Social Democratic Party has remained in charge of Vienna for much of its recent history, with the large exception of a Fascist coup in 1934 and the Nazi annexation in 1938 followed by World War II. Even as social housing construction expanded, the city government ensured it remained mixed-income by means-testing people only when they first arrived and by keeping the income threshold relatively high.
“There’s a consistency in knowing this housing is going to be funded and supported,” said Vincent Reina, a professor of urban planning and housing at the. “That’s really important, not just for the residents but also for financial markets feeling confident about the viability of this housing stock.”So what, exactly, can American municipal policymakers learn here?