The model showcases the innovation, creativity, and freshness of design with which well-known architects, working with different private sector developers, have helped to shape Vienna’s affordable housing. More recently, on November 12, 2013, the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, Maryland and the Montgomery Housing Partnership hosted a discussion about this remarkable social housing program. The term social housing is used extensively in Europe to refer to government-owned or regulated affordable housing. A comparative study of social housing programs in European nations finds that they vary substantially — in their histories of origin, who they serve, where housing is located, the physical nature of the housing stock, the means of financing new housing, and even how their housing subsidies work.
Vienna’s legacy of giving high priority to providing high-quality housing for the working class dates back to the “Red Vienna” period of the early 20th century, when the majority socialist government made providing quality affordable housing for city residents a priority. Vienna remains committed to this cause to this day. The November discussion in Montgomery County, Maryland was led by Pamela Lindstrom, commissioner of the Housing Opportunities Commission. Lindstrom explained that Vienna’s city government owns and manages 220,000 housing units, which represent about 25 percent of the city’s housing stock.1 These city-owned housing units, called social housing, are meant primarily for lower-income residents.
