Vienna Communist Party launches emergency tenant helpline

The Vienna branch of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) has launched a helpline for tenants facing problems such as high rents, unclear service charges or disputes with landlords, ORF reported. The service, previously available in Graz, is intended to help people help themselves, the party said.

Tenants can call 0670/3551527 on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. No appointment is needed, said Vienna KPÖ leader Mario Memoli. The service is open to all tenants, not only those living in municipal housing.

Memoli said mould was one of the biggest problems reported by residents of Vienna’s municipal housing. The KPÖ also warned about the possible sale of municipal apartments, citing a case in Wiener Neustadt. Vienna officials have denied that such a sale is planned, while the party pointed to reported meeting minutes in which Donaustadt district head Ernst Nevrivy of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) had supported the idea.

The SPÖ accused the KPÖ of “scaremongering.” Waltraud Karner-Kremser, an SPÖ member of Vienna’s city council and chair of its housing committee, said the city’s housing service, Wiener Wohnen, was available to municipal tenants around the clock. She said the city already supported people with rent questions or financial difficulties.

The KPÖ introduced its tenant helpline in Graz in the 1990s. Former Graz housing councillor Ernest Kaltenegger said the initiative responded to private speculators seeking to remove long-term tenants, while little was being done to renovate or modernise municipal housing.