A group of Democratic Socialists and other far-left pols have spent much of the past week on an expenses-paid trip to Vienna as progressives push so-called “social housing” statewide.
, fellow Brooklyn-based socialist and five other state legislators wer♛e among a nearly– including New York housing organizers and other activists – who landed in Austria Monday to learn more about the country’s heavily-subsidized social housing program that serves people of all incomes.
The group visited the Karl Marx and other housing complexes, met with dined with private labor leaders, gushed over that limit car use, and checked out according to Gallagher’s tweets.
“Touring Karl Marx Hof, an enormous public housing complex where you can live if you apply and make less than 3K a month,” Gallagher Monday. “The lease is — permanent – no matter if your [sic] income, and you can switch units. Kindergarden, library, bike storage, parking and gardens included #When In Wien.”
While many of the pols arrived home as early as Friday, Gallagher wꦫas expected to head back to New York on Tuesday, her reps said.
The trip’s expenses — including airfare and accommodations — are being picked up by various foundations and other private donors. It was organized by several left-leaning policy groups, including and New York University’s , according to some who attended.
They declined to say which♐ donors and 🔯foundations picked up the tab for the seven pols or what it cost.
The cheapest roundtrip flights from New York to Vienna wer🐼e running about $700 on Friday, according to . ꧋Four-star, one-bed hotel rooms in Vienna could be had for $87 to $274 per night, according to
During her stay, Salazar raised eyebrows back in the States by suggesting she’d be all in on having the government seize private property in New York City to spur social housing.
“Expropriate them and allow community land trusts to acquire the properties to actually house people,” Salazar Wednesday.
She was responding to a report in suggesting Big Apple landlords are purposely holding tens of thousands of rent-stabilized units for “ransom” by leaving them vacant to help manipulate changes to rent laws.
The following day, fellow Democratic Socialist and Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, who didn’t make the trip to Vienna, linked to the same article and “These units should be owned and maintained by residents and the public.”
Other pols who visited Vienna included Sen. Brian Kavanagh of Manhattan; and state Assembly members Marcela Mitaynes and Phara Souffrant Forrest of Brooklyn, Linda Rosenthal of Manhatta💖n, and Anna Kelles, who represents the Ithaca area.
The lefties’ trip spurred plenty of reaction on social media. Some applauded them for seeking alternatives to America’s flawed public housing system. Other questioned their motives — and financing.
“Who is paying for this junket? Hope it isn’t my fellow New York taxpayers! And if not who is paying for this glorification of Communism … Karl Marx,” @DickYoungsGhost.
“So what’s the plan Gallagher when you come home from this bulls–t junket?” another critic @ImpunityCity “You think the developers that own you and your fauxgressive ally electeds are going to build housing like this without topping it off with 50 floors of condos? And enough of the bike bulls–t narrative.”
Gallagher via insisted the trip wasn’t “taxpayer-funded” as did reps for the other pols when contacted by The Post.
Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All, defended the trip in a text message from Vienna Friday. She said it was arranged to introduce legislators and fair housing advocates to the Vienna’s “social housing model, which has earned global praise for providing safe, decent, and affordable housing for nearly a million tenants.”
“As New York stares down a housing crisis of historic proportions, we must look farther afield and explore a wide variety of options to house New Yorkers,” she added.
