First question: How do you get in that system? Or is it reserved only for locals?
Because I contemplated moving to Vienna last year (most livable city, lowest rents and all that advertising) and I saw on Willhaben single bedroom apartments in decent shape were 1000+ Euros while software developer take home wages and perks weren't higher than in shitholes like Bucharest, Belgrade or Sofia (no offence, I'm also from around that region), sometimes even worse than there.
Second question: if the government is basically indirectly subsidizing employers by subsidizing housing for employees, meaning companies need to pay less for talent than in higher CoL areas, why then aren't more international tech companies opening offices in Vienna and instead keep hiring only in places with a housing shortage like London Berlin and Amsterdam? Something just doesn't add up. You'd think Vienna would be a magnet for companies instead of the overpriced cities with zero housing.
> How do you get in that system? Or is it reserved only for locals?
Any EU resident that has lived anywhere in Vienna for two years "gets in". After that, you either have to be under 30 or be below a certain income threshold at the time of getting the apartment. After you moved in you can earn however much you like - it doesn't matter. Some highly-ranked politicians still live in social housing because of this.
I've lived in a private single-bedroom apartment for ~300€ a month in Penzing (14th district) for a short while - there's plenty of older style apartments from before 1950 that are rent-capped through the MRG, so the owners can't charge too much for them. Vienna is big - not everywhere is the 1st district.
> Why then aren't more international tech companies opening offices in Vienna
Many international "old-school" tech companies like IBM are in fact heavily building work force in Vienna again due to the low labor cost (and point this out incessantly in DACH meetings - often to the displeasure of Austrians hearing how 'cheap' they are.) The issue is that for service-based work, most companies still near-shore to Romania, Czechia, Slovakia etc. since staff costs and taxes are considerably lower and you are spared the traditional regular strong union negotiations. Adding to this that Vienna is just culturally not a very techy or innovative place, never has been. And you can see and feel that with the (lack of) innovation happening. Many of my friends left to study in Graz, Munich or Zurich out right - they were usually the best of the best. Good tech talent here moves to Germany, Switzerland or even further westwards eventually for the salary.
But - on the other hand - Vienna is trying to build a start-up ecosystem with things like Brutkasten and success stories like Bitpanda and their start-up space in the Viertel Zwei area (2nd district).
Don't get me wrong, I love my city, but for various cultural reasons the move fast and break things tech mantra isn't something that leads to success here.
First question: How do you get in that system? Or is it reserved only for locals?
Because I contemplated moving to Vienna last year (most livable city, lowest rents and all that advertising) and I saw on Willhaben single bedroom apartments in decent shape were 1000+ Euros while software developer take home wages and perks weren't higher than in shitholes like Bucharest, Belgrade or Sofia (no offence, I'm also from around that region), sometimes even worse than there.
Second question: if the government is basically indirectly subsidizing employers by subsidizing housing for employees, meaning companies need to pay less for talent than in higher CoL areas, why then aren't more international tech companies opening offices in Vienna and instead keep hiring only in places with a housing shortage like London Berlin and Amsterdam? Something just doesn't add up. You'd think Vienna would be a magnet for companies instead of the overpriced cities with zero housing.