SHELTERING
Social housing was seen primarily as a construction rather than a management responsibility. for people in need,” to include many kinds of people (seniors, young families, low and moderate-income workers, homeless, etc.) and different kinds of affordable housing (low-cost market, as well as subsidized rental housing). At the same time, housing affordability is “the degree to which housing is attainable to anyone, at any income level.” 5 Similarly, some authors see housing affordability as a broader concept. They claim that it “takes into account subsidized housing as well as other factors, such as transportation costs and the hidden costs of renting and displacement. 6 Therefore, housing affordability as a concept involves more than the often-used, simplified approach of the “house purchase price to household income” ratio.7 Even though affordability is subject to national interpretations, it is commonly stated that “households that spend more than 30% of their gross income to obtain adequate and appropriate housing have an affordability problem,” despite the fact that this “definition is far from being universally accepted.” 2 Recent studies depict the quality of social and affordable housing as challenging. They show that in “several countries there is a lack of rental housing, in some a lack of housing designed to meet special needs,” and in others, “a general housing shortage.” 14 It is obvious that measures need to be taken by governments to address these issues. The discussion of affordable living along with affordable housing brings the fact that the “standard affordability measures” do not account for the “trade-offs between cheap or affordable housing and the commuting costs associated with residence in such locations.”9 It is a known fact that people migrate where the employment opportunities are, so cities that have the most dynamic labor markets” typically have the greatest housing affordability problems.”7 Common problems are the growing rents and prices, which “push out even middle-income households.”10 Therefore, it is stated that a family residing out of an urban area may have “an affordable dwelling” but not necessarily an “affordable living.” Similarly, shrinking regions where unemployment causes reduced incomes and lower housing market values; as a result, “low-income households remain trapped in these areas because housing is unaffordable for them elsewhere, and policy responses focus on improving the environment of lagging areas rather than supporting housing closer to viable job markets.”10 Regardless of slow population growth in Europe, changing demographic, social, and family patterns across Europe are another
factor in the increase in demand for housing. The new patterns include a higher number of households arising from a decrease in household size, an increasing proportion of single-person households and couples without children, an ageing population with specific needs, and large families of immigrants with their stronger presence in social housing.11 Housing affordability is the backbone of all housing policies. It is almost taken for granted that housing policies in every country have at least one objective related to affordable housing. However, especially since the 2008 financial and economic crisis, housing has become more unaffordable for low- and moderate-income earners. According to a report from Housing Europe,19 in 2012, on average Europeans spent over a fifth of their income (22.9%) on housing. The share of housing costs out of disposable income for those at risk of poverty was almost double the overall rate (40.4%). In 2014, EUROSTAT reported that an 11.4% share of the EU-28 population lived in households that spent 40% or more of their equalized disposable income on housing, affecting the poor more. The data suggest that the increasing housing cost overburden rate is a "social trend to watch." 20 This increasing problem is not only related to the increase in poverty and social polarization that have reduced the ability of households to afford the costs of housing but also to austerity measures that requires cuts in both the public and private sectors. For example, in the United Kingdom, the number of housing completions, after peaking in 2007/08, tailed off dramatically by 36% because of the financial crisis.(21) Consequently, in EU member states, new social housing production has decreased, while the number of households on waiting lists for social housing has increased.22 These austerity measures have affected housing affordability, and the availability of affordable housing in the market key indicator for policy-makers, based on which they introduce instruments to fill the affordability gap. Historically in Europe, a range of instruments has addressed either supply or demand problems or both of them. Nowadays these instruments are minimized, and governments rely more on the market to provide affordable housing. The affordable dwellings provision is crucial to prevent people from “falling in the poverty trap and to tackle housing exclusion,” along with “consolidating the purchasing power of households, promoting their consumption of goods and services,” 2 thanks to provisions that enable the moderate rents/prices for the most needed.
Q1 -2017
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