Society

Why Public Housing Was Abandoned and Why It Should Come Back

Wêrom sosjale wenningbou ferlitten waard en wêrom it weromkomme moat

July 29, 2026 · Frisian News

Vienna housing: 62 percent of residents live in public housing at 24 percent of income. Most Western nations abandoned the model anyway, choosing ideology over shelter.

English

In Vienna, public housing covers 62 percent of the population. The average renter there spends a significantly smaller share of income on housing than counterparts in other major cities. In American cities, the median is 30 percent, and in London, higher still. The difference is not geography or wealth. It is the choice to build.

After 1945, nearly every Western government committed to public housing. Britain's council estates housed millions, and America's pre-war projects, though imperfect, provided stability to working families. Then ideology shifted. In the 1980s and 1990s, political leaders sold off public stocks, cut funding, and told people that the free market would solve housing. The market solved it, but only for investors, landlords, and developers who profit from scarcity, not for working families.

Today, institutional investors own a large share of single-family homes in America. They bid up prices, maintain them artificially high, and extract rent. Zoning laws passed by local governments prohibit apartment buildings in residential areas, a policy that sounds boring but locks in housing shortages. Every restriction makes homes more valuable to those who already own them and less affordable for those who do not.

Public housing works. Montgomery County, Maryland runs a program that rents homes at 30 percent of tenant income. Vienna's social housing is not luxury, just ordinary, modest, and functional. Rents are stable, and people can plan their lives.

The case for public housing is not sentimental but practical. Markets work well for many things, but housing is not one of them; a family needs shelter the way it needs water. When shelter becomes scarce by design, ordinary people suffer while investors gain. The question is not whether we can afford to build public housing. It is whether we can afford not to.

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Read this story in Frysk

Frysk

Yn Wenen wennet 62 persint fan de befolking yn sosjale wenningbou. De gemiddelde hierder dêr bestegget in folle lytser diel fan syn ynkommen oan wenjen as hierders yn oare grutte stêden. Yn Amerikaanske stêden is it gemiddelde 30 persint, yn Londen noch mear. It ferskil is net geography of wolfeart. It is de kar om te bouwen.

Nei 1945 rjochten hast alle westerse regearingen har op sosjale wenningbou. Britske gemeentlike wenningbou húsfêste miljoenen, en Amerikaanske projekten foar de oarloch joegen wurkjende gesinnen stabiliteit. Doe feroare de ideology. Yn de jierren tachtich en njoggentich ferkeapen politike lieders publike foarrieden, koartten se op budzjetten, en seinen se minsken dat de frije merk wenjen oplosse soe. De merk loste it op foar ynvestearders, húsbazen en ûntwikkelders dy't winst helje út skarsens, net foar wurkjende gesinnen.

Hjoed besitte ynstitúsjonele ynvestearders in grut part fan de hûzen foar ien gesin yn Amearika. Se driuwe de prizen omheech, hâlde se keunstmjittich heech, en ynkassearje hierynkomsten. Soanerringsregels dy't troch lokale regearingen oannommen binne, ferbieden appartemintgebouwen yn wenwiken, in belied dat langweilich klinkt mar wenningtekoarten fêstleit. Eltse beheining makket hûzen weardefoller foar dyjingen dy't se al besitte en minder betelber foar dyjingen dy't dat net dogge.

Publike wenningbou wurket: Montgomery County, Maryland ferhiert hûzen tsjin 30 persint fan it ynkommen fan hierders. Sosjale wenningbou yn Wenen is net lúksueus, mar gewoan, beskieden en funksjoneel. Hierren binne stabyl, en minsken kinne har libben plannje.

It argumint foar publike wenningbou is net sentiminteël mar praktysk. Merken wurkje goed foar in protte dingen, mar wenjen net; in gesin hat ûnderdak nedich lykas it wetter nedich hat. As ûnderdak skarsens wurdt troch opset, lije gewoane minsken wylst ynvestearders winne. De fraach is net oft wy it betelje kinne. It is oft wy it betelje kinne om it net te dwaan.

Published July 29, 2026 · Frisian News