Socialist Youth calls for Vienna district chief’s resignation

The Socialist Youth Vienna has called for the resignation of Ernst Nevrivy, the Social Democratic Party district chief of Donaustadt, over reported comments in which he said he could envisage selling some municipal apartments, ORF reported.

“Attacking municipal housing and talking about privatisation behind closed doors has no place in Red Vienna. Ernst Nevrivy must resign,” chair Lena Stern said in an Instagram post on Friday. She added that “half-hearted apologies are not enough” and that consequences were needed.

Stern said this was “exactly the kind of politics that contributes to a loss of credibility”.

According to reports by Krone and profil, Nevrivy discussed selling municipal apartments during a meeting with Walter Ruck, the former head of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce who has since resigned. Nevrivy reportedly said: “Municipal apartments have become social housing. But I don’t need 220,000 social apartments.” He allegedly said that 100,000 or 150,000 municipal apartments would be sufficient.

In response to an ORF Vienna inquiry, Nevrivy said he could no longer remember the exact wording of the conversations, which he said had been recorded illegally. He stressed that he was “unconditionally committed to publicly subsidised housing” in Vienna and had never discussed possible privatisations of municipal housing with investors. He also said he had no powers in this area.

The Socialist Youth Vienna described social housing as “the heart of Red Vienna”. Municipal housing had represented affordable housing and social security for more than 100 years, it said, adding that privatisation must not be up for debate.

“Especially at a time when housing is becoming increasingly expensive, we need more, not less, social housing,” the organisation said.