Canada is facing a housing crisis. Could it take a page from Europe?

Slavica Salihbegovic’s family was growing. So she did what anyone living in Vienna would do: She asked the city for a bigger apartment.

“At that time, I was pregnant with my first kid,” she said. “I lived in a two-room apartment … it was an OK building, but it was small for us.”

Salihbegovic went to an online portal, entered her income and requirements, and was ranked alongside thousands of other residents. Soon, she was assigned a new apartment: a three-bedroom unit in a brand-new building, adjacent to Vienna’s Central Station. 

It’s hers for life — she can even pass it down to her children, if she wants.

“I love it. It’s in the middle of Vienna,” she said. “A lot of young families moved in at the same time…. There’s a big campus here, with a kindergarten and primary school. There’s dancing classes, and a boulder bar, and a huge park.”

Salihbegovic wasn’t desperate to find housing. She and her partner earned middle-class incomes. But in recent years, Vienna has become renowned among housing experts for its model of social housing, which provides heavily subsidized rental units to more than half of the city’s two million residents.

And the rent from those units helps power €400 million ($626 million) in new construction annually, amounting to more than 12,000 units built or refurbished every year, according to the city.

While Europe struggles with similar trends to Canada of rising rents and skyrocketing home prices, experts say social housing models like Austria’s are among the best defence against a growing affordability crisis — and are begging governments to continue investing aggressively in such programs.

Could something similar ever come to Canada? It may seem far-fetched, but housing experts across Europe say it’s made possible thanks to a few relatively simple interventions.

Housing without profit

Living around the corner from Salihbegovic is Amila Sirbegovic, an architect and housing project leader for the City of Vienna. She used to own an apartment, but opted to sell and move back into social housing, where she says her unit is more modern and spacious.

Sirbegovic’s story is another example of what makes European social housing different: A generous eligibility criteria. 

Roughly three-quarters of Austrians fall under the income threshold, meaning many middle-class families can get geared-to-income housing, too — with rents capped at a reasonable 25 per cent of income.

“It’s the most normal thing in Vienna,” said Salihbegovic.

The diverse mix of tenants means there is little stigma attached to subsidized housing; it also keeps neighbourhoods diverse and ensures urban housing is available for vital workers like nurses, sanitation workers and bus drivers.

“You…