This paper argues that all too often this assertion conflates two distinct and separate processes, and that accounting conventions have exaggerated at least one of those processes. These issues are illustrated by reference to the trends in Great Britain, and poses to ENHR delegates from other Western European countries questions about whether the same issues arise in respect of the reported trends in their countries.

Paper was prepared for the ENHR Conference in Reykjavik, June 2005

EU legislation and/or funding

The document concludes that it is now routinely asserted that there has been a switch from bricks and mortar to personal subsidies across Europe. This assertion conflates two distinct and separate processes. The first is the decline in levels of investment in the numbers of new units of social housing. The second involves the decline in levels of subsidy per unit of social housing, against an increased reliance on personal means tested subsidies. While those processes can be observed in some European countries they are far from universal. The decline in new levels of social house building can be seen in some, but not all, western European countries. Similarly a rise in rents relative to earnings can be seen in some, but not all, western European countries.

Centre for Housing Policy, University of York
Steve Wilcox

01/01/2005

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Steve Wilcox

research

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing policy

Social housing