Page 8 - U4SSC Case study: Affordable housing and social inclusion, June 2020

available in their house. WGE! not only acts as a broker for the two parties, it also accompanies the
process of renting or renting out, and takes care that everyone involved is satisfied.

Promoting circularity

Vision and content

The project was launched to respond to three challenges facing the city:

• Rising rents (affordable and cosy housing is getting more and more difficult to access).

• Elderly people fear loneliness and isolation.
• In Vienna, like many other cities, vacant housing is increasing.

The problem is that there is not a simple and systematic way to bring together the empty living space
and the people looking for housing. WGE! changes the way we use our homes based upon a mutuality
of needs of different generations: young people are moving into elderly people’s houses or into an
empty room in a retirement home. Elderly people can reduce their housing costs, get someone to keep
them company and give them a helping hand in managing the household. Young people are benefitting
from low rents and the life experience of an elderly person.

Table 1: Data for Vienna

Data for Vienna:
People over age 60 feel at risk of exclusion 30% 5
Average money students live with EUR 850 6
Amount of students living in Vienna 200 000 7
Average rental cost EUR 15.50 per m 2 8

Affordable housing is one of the key factors at play when measuring a city’s competitiveness. Vienna
considers itself to be a social city, and the requirement to take care of the needs of young and elderly
people alike will be met by this project.

WGE! connects older people and senior citizen residences with housemates. Mostly, this will be young
people who provide time for joint activities and everyday support for a low-cost room.

5 Silver Living Study: https:// www .silver -living .com/ silver -living/ news/ silver -living -studie -angst -vor -einsamkeit -im -alter -ist -weit -verbreitet/
6 Austrian Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy; Report on the Social Conditions for Students: https:// www .ihs .ac .at/
fileadmin/ public/ 2016 _Files/ Documents/ 2016 _BMWFW _Materialien _zur _sozialen _Lage _der _Studierenden .pdf
7 Vienna in Figures 2018 (City of Vienna): https:// www .wien .gv .at/ statistik/ pdf/ viennainfigures -2018 .pdf
8 https:// www .immopreise .at/ Wien/ Wohnung/ Miete

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