Youth hostel on the Ennsleite closes permanently in autumn

An iron staircase and a bent traffic sign in front of it: The youth hostel on the Ennsleite has somehow been a lost place in recent years. In an audit report in 2021, the State Audit Office openly recommended that the city “cease operations entirely” after the facility had already incurred an annual deficit of 140,000 euros with an occupancy rate of just twelve percent. Most recently, only the billeting of 30 women and children, war refugees from Ukraine, had increased the number of overnight stays slightly, but the annual operating loss of between 80,000 and 90,000 euros has remained.

At the last council meeting, the announcement by Mayor Markus Vogl (SP) that the city would no longer spend money on a youth hostel that is hardly used by young travelers anymore was made a reality. Deputy Mayor Anna-Maria Demmelmayr-Durst (SP) presented the “social orientation” project, for which the rooms will be converted in the autumn after the youth hostel closes. The city’s social work for young people and families will thus be brought directly to the front doors of the residents in the district’s apartment blocks, said Demmelmayr-Durst. The conversion of the building, which will be rented to other social organizations and clubs, will cost the city 367,000 euros. The decision to reuse the youth hostel was made almost unanimously, only the VP, who was missing more detailed information on the basis for the decision, abstained. (feh)