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Our Community
about us
A co-housing community is a diverse group of motivated people who want to actively shape the environment they live in – both spatially/architecturally and interpersonally. Being part of such a group means knowing and supporting each other and sharing resources – like in a small urban village. As a group, we strive to shape our own community, to create a lively neighbourhood and an architecture that serves a large number of people.
What we want:
- an animated building with a functional community
- to create additional value for our ‘Grätzl’ (urban neighbourhood)
- a sustainable model for urban living
- to save resources through cooperation, sharing and mutual help
- to actively shape our living spaces
- lots of common space
- housing that is not in the hands of financial speculators
We believe that community housing projects, like ours, are a future-oriented living model and offer a healthy alternative to the conventional housing market. It is enriching for the people, the city and the environment.
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Our vision
At eye level with the people, the city and the environment
Together we want to make our vision a reality: A vision of a contemporary model for urban housing and living. It takes a lot of energy, know-how, a plan and common values to achieve this.
the people
We live together
A housing community is more than a collection of apartments. We want to know each other, support each other, treat each other with respect and create added value through cooperation. Everyone contributes according to their individual ability. As a group we are open-minded, strive for diversity and social sustainability. We want to enable accessible and graded forms of communal life.
the city
Our house as an urban neighbourhood
We create smart spaces through flexible room concepts and lots of shared space. Places for individual development, shared interests, events, work, crafts, culture and neighbourhood. We want to respond to the needs of our surroundings and be an active part of a lively, communicative district in Vienna.
the environment
We live consciously
Our residential project should be both economically affordable and ecologically compatible. We try to make long-lasting, resource-saving decisions and promote sustainable living culture in the city: From choosing the right construction methods, promoting strong social structures to stimulating a high degree of personal initiatives.
Organisation
Sociocracy & working groups
We are an association (Verein) and practice sociocracy.
Sociocracy is a form of organisation for groups that work together on large scale projects. We share the tasks in our house and our community, make decisions together and ultimately also share the responsibility to establish a successful housing project.
We work on different topics and decisions in various groups. Each member contributes according to their possibilities, interests and abilities.
Our current working groups are:
- Finance & Law
- Architecture
- Community & Organisation
- Publicity, IT & Media
All decisions within our community are made according to the consent principle. That means, whenever a decision is pending, an informed suggestion is made as a basis. Members are consenting as long as they’re not raising justifiable objections. Any objection is heard and a suggestion is amended if necessary, so that everyone can support the final decision.
We have been practising these principles of self-organisation since the beginning of our project.
Members
Vis-à-Who we are
We are currently 52 adults & 29 children and will expand the group to up to 80-100 people (in ~45 apartments) in the next year.
A colourful multi-generational house
Our group is made up of people from different backgrounds. We want to break out of the proverbial bubble and promote a social mix. This is how we bring a sustainable socio-economic climate to the neighbourhood and ensure the longevity of the community. The building also has a variety of apartment sizes and typologies that can be occupied in different ways. So you don’t need any special qualities or a specific CV to become a member.
Partners
Our project team consists of:
- us, the association (Verein) Vis-à-Wien
- Schwarzatal – the property developer
- einszueins architecture – responsible for planning our part in the building
- feld72 Architects – responsible for planning the “conventional” subsidised part of the building
- realitylab – process support & social sustainability
- Carla Lo – landscape architecture
Financing
The following estimates of rental prices, financing payments and fees are very rough, and do not include potential increases of building costs.
Our association (Verein) Vis-à-Wien will conclude a general lease agreement with the non-profit developer Schwarzatal, i.e. we rent the entire northern part of the building. It then rents out the units to our members and the commercial space to cooperation partners. According to current estimates, the gross rent for the apartments, including operating costs and proportionate costs for the common rooms, will be about € 14.50 per square metre. In addition, membership in the association costs € 15.00 per month. A one-off joining fee is determined according to the time of joining. It is staggered to compensate for the risk and workload of existing members. When we last expanded the joining fee was € 1,750 per member.
Apart from that, a one-off building contribution of ~350 to 450 € per square metre must be paid before moving in. This will be refunded after moving out (minus the annual depreciation of one percent). The model works like that of common cooperative residential buildings (Genossenschaftsmodell).
Even before moving in, the building group will incur costs for the development of the house. In order to cover these, there is the possibility of providing voluntary private loans to the association. The amount can be chosen freely, the aim is 5,000 € per person. After moving in, it will be paid back in stages. This model enables us to dispense with a fixed share of development costs as an entry requirement. This way, the membership remains affordable.
Vis-à-Wien is of the opinion that living space should not be up for financial speculation. Due to the general rent with a non-profit developer, our house is not part of the for-profit real estate market and never will be. Ideally, every person should have the chance to live in a modern, light-flooded wooden house. In order to enable people with low incomes to participate in our group and live in our house, we are working on a model to provide cheaper solidarity housing.