The human rights report gives Graz good marks

The Graz Human Rights Report 2022 was presented on Wednesday. The implementation of the ten concrete recommendations made in the last report was examined and in the end, as they say, a “gratifying balance sheet” could be drawn.

Price increase development

Graz has been experiencing strong population growth for years: the demand for affordable apartments is on the rise. On the other hand, there is a construction boom in private housing in the city with a focus on small apartments as investor apartments.

An overall increase in the rental price level is observed – read more about this in Rents have risen sharply again (news.ORF.at); The situation is particularly difficult for low-income people, single women, single parents, the elderly and young families.

The first innovations are done

According to the latest human rights report, cooperation with policy makers and municipal departments is “consistently solution-oriented”: For example, the adapted access criteria for municipal housing were mentioned: you now have the right to request a main residence in Graz after one year and not after five as before. Now the convention refugees have once again been declared authorized to enter.

Furthermore, on the proposal of the Advisory Board, a “representative for pedestrians” was appointed, who deals with all structural measures in the public space: one of her first actions was the elaboration of a “master plan for walking”. .

In addition, Council announced that it will establish a new “Housing and Homelessness Assistance” department at the Social Insurance Office for next year: it will work with relevant institutions – from social work to property management – and improve data collection and evaluation, so that quantitative data on homelessness and its causes are available. Finally, the new building concepts aim to ensure that more green and open space is available for residents.

Waiver of the increase in the reference fee

For people who cannot afford an apartment on the private real estate market, the city of Graz has the possibility to allocate a total of around 11,200 cheaper apartments. For the approximately 4,350 municipal apartments included, the increase in the reference rents was suspended in the spring. For the 6,700 so-called relocation apartments, for which the city of Graz is entitled to send you, you can demand additional rent payments – a voluntary social benefit of the city. There was no council tax increase in 2022.

“See Clearly Beyond”

However, the pandemic years in particular also brought another important insight, “that human rights as we are discussing them now, because they are often understood in a broad sense, are viewed too narrowly and you have to look much further”, says Max Aufischer Human Rights Advisory Board – therefore, in a second part of the report, the cultural year 2020/21 and the sports year 2021 will be examined from a human rights perspective.

These areas are of particular relevance to human rights: for example, sport is of paramount importance for integration and inclusion. “This is often the first step for children who are new to Graz, where they are beyond the language, where their performance is also rewarded, where they see that they have value,” says the head of the Graz sports department Thomas Rajakovic.

City officials want to make the multifaceted meaning of sport more tangible and tangible, and this could perhaps be reflected in the forthcoming human rights report of the city of Graz.