The book will inform a wide audience about the provision of rented housing in several European countries. The material is relevant to many housing, surveying and planning undergraduate and postgraduate courses which have a European housing element/option.

All countries aim to improve housing conditions for their citizens but many have been forced by the financial crisis to reduce government expenditure. Social housing is at the crux of this tension. Policy-makers, practitioners and academics want to know how other systems work and are looking for something written in clear English, where there is a depth of understanding of the literature in other languages and direct contributions from country experts across the continent. Social Housing in Europe combines a comparative overview of European social housing written by scholars with in-depth chapters written by international housing experts. The countries covered include Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, The Netherlands and Sweden, with a further chapter devoted to CEE countries other than Hungary. The book provides an up-to-date international comparison of social housing policy and practice. It offers an analysis of how the social housing system currently works in each country, supported by relevant statistics. It identifies European trends in the sector, and opportunities for innovation and improvement. These country-specific chapters are accompanied by topical thematic chapters dealing with subjects such as the role of social housing in urban regeneration, the privatisation of social housing, financing models, and the impact of European Union state aid regulations on the definitions and financing of social housing.

Many European economies have faced pressure from rental housing affordability that has widened social and economic divergence. While significant country and regional differences exist, this departmental paper finds that in many advanced European economies a large and rising share of low-income renters, the young, and those living in cities is overburdened. In several locations, middle-income groups also increasingly face rental affordability issues.

The People's Home is a magisterial examination of the development of social rented housing over the last hundred years in six advanced capitalist countries - Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and the USA.

The Routledge Handbook of Housing Policy and Planning provides a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of contemporary trends in housing studies, housing policies, planning for housing, and housing innovations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe. In 29 chapters, international scholars discuss aspects pertaining to the right to housing, inequality, homeownership, rental housing, social housing, senior housing, gentrification, cities and suburbs, and the future of housing policies. This book is essential reading for students, policy analysts, policymakers, practitioners, and activists, as well as others interested in housing policy and planning.

The book explores both theoretically and empirically the impacts of housing reforms on housing provision in the context of the transition from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy. Fifteen years after the overthrow of state socialism housing policy has lost its privileged status of a political priority as most politically emb- ded systems had favoured market-based solutions to housing problems. This dep- ture from state controlled housing policies with the aim of providing a dwelling for every family is significant, particularly in some post-socialist countries where no new housing policy has emerged. The transition process, embedded in the paradigm shift from central planning to markets, has triggered off turbulence and adjustments with tangible outcomes in post-socialist housing systems. What has changed and what new housing systems have emerged during this dramatic ‘transition to markets and democracy’? Are these systems more efficient and equitable? These questions are the main focus of the book with an emphasis on diversity and change in housing reforms. The book supports the hypothesis that notions of convergence are not really appropriate to the conceptualisation of post-socialist housing systems. It argues that different housing policy choices are going to map out increasingly divergent s- nario for future development.

Rent control, the governmental regulation of the level of payment and tenure rights for rental housing, occupies a small but unique niche within the broad domain of public regulation of markets. The price of housing cannot be regulated by establishing a single price for a given level of quality, as other commodities such as electricity and sugar have been regulated at various times. Rent regulation requires that a price level be established for each individual housing unit, which in turn implies a level of complexity in structure and oversight that is unequaled. Housing provides a sense of security, defines our financial and emotional well-being, and influences our self-definition. Not surprisingly, attempts to regulate its price arouse intense controversy. Residential rent control is praised as a guarantor of affordable housing, excoriated as an indefensible distortion of the market, and both admired and feared as an attempt to transform the very meaning of housing access and ownership. This book provides a thorough assessment of the evolution of rent regulation in North American cities. Contributors sketch rent control's origins, legal status, economic impacts, political dynamics, and social meaning. Case studies of rent regulation in specific North American cities from New York and Washington, DC, to Berkeley and Toronto are also presented. This is an important primer for students, advocates, and practitioners of housing policy and provides essential insights on the intersection of government and markets.

Tenancy law has developed in all EU member states for decades, or even centuries, but constitutes a widely blank space in comparative and European law. This book fills an important gap in the literature by considering the diverse and complex panorama of housing policies, markets and their legal regulation across Europe. Expert contributors argue that that while unification is neither politically desired nor opportune, a European recommendation of best practices including draft rules and default contracts implementing a regulatory equilibrium would be a rewarding step forward.

In recent years, almost daily media attention has been focused on the plight of the homeless in cities across the United States. Drawing upon experiences in the U.S. and Europe, John Gilderbloom and Richard Appelbaum challenge conventional assumptions concerning the operation of housing markets and provide policy alternatives directed at the needs of low- and moderate-income families. Rethinking Rental Housing is a ground-breaking analysis that shows the value of applying a broad sociological approach to urban problems, one that takes into account the basic economic, social, and political dimensions of the urban housing crisis. Gilderbloom and Appelbaum predict that this crisis will worsen in the 1990s and argue that a "supply and demand" approach will not work in this case because housing markets are not competitive. They propose that the most effective approach to affordable housing is to provide non-market alternatives fashioned after European housing programs, particularly the Swedish model. An important feature of this book is the discussion of tenant movements that have tried to implement community values in opposition to values of development and landlord capital. One of the very few publications on rental housing, it is unique in applying a sociological framework to the study of this topic.

This report and the corresponding guidelines are the outcome of a two-year project carried out by a group of specialists, whose objective was to take stock of existing work in the field of social housing for vulnerable groups. It complements the report on access to social rights in Europe (2002, ISBN 9789287149855) and is an integral part of the Council of Europe's Social Cohesion Strategy. Addressed to policy makers at national and local levels, service organisations and users, this work provides examples and guidelines on designing and implementing effective housing policies for vulnerable social groups.