Fall 2022 Dates: September 19-21

 

Hawaii State Senator Stanley Chang hosts a housing delegation to Vienna, Austria.

 

Delegates will be selected in a competitive process from across the country to study the successful social housing system of Vienna, which houses over 60 percent of all city residents in attractive communities with impressive amenities.  The delegation will include site visits to notable historic social housing projects like the Karl-Marx-Hof (1930) and modern projects such as Seestadt Aspern (the largest housing development in Europe).  Participants will also meet with Vienna’s housing agencies and residents of social housing.  Delegates will learn about the history of social housing dating back to the Red Vienna period (1918-34) as well as the architectural competitions that have produced some of the most beautiful and amenity-rich housing developments in the world.  Delegates will also learn about the nuts and bolts of housing development, including financing, construction, and urban planning.

 

As American jurisdictions face increasingly severe housing shortages, state and local governments have explored various options to increase housing production.  Several jurisdictions have recently reduced regulation on density in residential neighborhoods by allowing more than one housing unit per lot, notably the city of Minneapolis and the states of Oregon and California.  Other jurisdictions are exploring social housing, government housing built for mixed income residents.  Notable bills include our ALOHA Homes proposal in Hawaii, SB3261 (2022), and California Assemblymember Alex Lee’s AB2035 (2022).  These proposals seek to revive public sector housing construction, which was a major federal policy initiative from the New Deal through the Great Society eras.  Though direct government housing construction programs were later slashed and replaced by private sector programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, policymakers are increasingly aware that government production is the most direct way to create housing with the necessary characteristics to house the middle class.

 

Delegates will be expected to participate in the entire delegation in Vienna.  They will also be expected to participate in three preparatory meetings in the months leading up to the delegation and at least one post-delegation meeting.

 

• Delegates may book travel packages including hotel, ground transportation, and welcome and farewell receptions, through a travel agency that we are working with.

• All delegates are responsible for their own airfare.   ​

• Delegates that choose to book flights and accommodations on their own will be expected to cover the cost of ground transportation and other expenses that apply to the entire delegation.  

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Price Estimates for Travel Packages:

• Package rate (Single occupancy): $1,805.00 per person

• Package rate (Twin occupancy): $1,295.00 per person

• LAND ONLY (no hotel): $720.00 per person 

• Deposit due at time of booking: $350 per person

• Final payment due: 8/01/2022

• Payment by check payable to Regal Travel is preferred.  Please add 4% for credit card charges.

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If you are interested in participating, please apply at the link below.

 

 

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