Bruno Kreisky Foundation

for Human Rights

UMF House Liebhartstal (Austria)

The UMF House Liebhartstal was opened in August 2015. The house is operated by the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund and is located in the 16th district of Vienna in a former retirement home. The first residents were a group of unaccompanied minor girls. In the wake of events in the fall of 2015 and the acute need to accommodate refugees, the number of residents quickly grew to 60 unaccompanied minor girls and boys from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and other African countries. Since fall 2015, Christine Okresek has been in charge of the UMF Haus Liebhartstal. Next to the UMF Haus Liebhartstal is the residential home for refugee families and women, which is managed by Mag. Monika Thalhammer. The young people live in three coeducational residential groups, and there is also a residential group for eighteen to twenty-five year olds. There are double rooms and a few single rooms with integrated bathrooms and a balcony, so that privacy and security of the young people are best guaranteed. Each residential group has a kitchen where cooking is done with and for the young people, as well as recreational rooms.