Tyrolean Alliance against Poverty: “Poverty is no longer a marginal issue”
The alliance against poverty and housing shortage will not do anything to politicians, but will find common solutions. The situation is getting worse from day to day in the 300 Tyrolean institutions that are part of the umbrella organization.
INNSBRUCK. They didn’t want to give an incendiary speech and in the end – due to the urgency – it turned out to be one: The Tyrolean alliance against poverty and housing shortages drew attention to the increasingly precarious living conditions of the population in a press conference on Thursday. The issue of housing in particular runs like a red thread through the lives of people affected by poverty.
As Ludwig Plangger from argeSODIT (umbrella association of organizations for people with disabilities) explained:
“Poverty is invisible, but it hasn’t been a marginal issue for a long time. It has already arrived in the middle class.”
In his opinion, dealing with poverty is the maturity test of democracy. You don’t want to do anything to the politicians, but to solve the current problems in cooperation with them. Four focal points were recognized by the umbrella organization: 1. Affordable housing, 2. Securing a livelihood and rising prices, 3. Childcare, 4. Health promotion and care.
Half of Tyroleans are dependent on rent
Marion Kapferer is head of DOWAS, a social counseling center that specializes in people in need of housing. They drew attention to the fact that almost half of the people in Tyrol live in rented accommodation. In Innsbruck it is 60%. However, the country’s current housing policy would only target ownership.
“New accents are needed in housing subsidies. It cannot be that half of the people in Tyrol are not taken into account. Housing must finally be seen as a human right and not as a commodity with which one speculates.”
She thinks that the amendment to the tenancy law is a federal law, but that there are many things that could be done at the state level to bring about an improvement. For example, with the suspension of the current rent increases for non-profit property developers or with the housing cost ordinance as part of the minimum income.
The social slide is imminent
Simone Rabl is head of the Diakonie refugee services and outlined the dramatic circumstances in her counseling center:
“The issue of securing a livelihood has increased blatantly for us. People who have hardly been able to make ends meet are literally afraid of winter. They simply have no more leeway.”
Not only unemployed people are affected, but also people who are affected by poverty despite working. Refugees who are without a social or family network and simply have no reserves. She told of a family with three children in which both parents work, one daughter is an apprentice and two children are in school. The increase in rent made it impossible to pay the children for the school trip. The social slide is imminent.
A social task force
Julia Schratz from Dowas for women also drew attention to the precarious situation of her clientele. In Tyrol, 314 women and 79 children – all in Innsbruck – are affected by homelessness. It doesn’t mean that they live on the streets, but that they don’t have a real home.
“So no opportunity for the children to play games in the afternoon, no social relationships, no desk to do homework at.”
Expanding free childcare would be a big step in the right direction. On behalf of the alliance, she called for a task force for social affairs “to tackle the mega-challenges of our time.”
Everyone agreed that long-term solutions were needed in addition to quick support. We should also stop thinking in terms of departmental politics
: “Poverty is a cross-cutting issue. Putting it on a single state councilor as a cap is not a solution,” said Schratz at the end.
More news from Innsbruck can be found here.
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