The European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research has dedicated its latest policy briefing on affordable housing for low-income families.
It's main takeaway messages are:
- As house prices and rents remain high, affordability stays out of reach for many low-income households. Although middle-income families have also been increasingly affected in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, affordability is clearly worst for those with the least resources.
- Housing costs represent a significantly larger burden for poor households reducing spending on other necessary items, such as food or clothing. Declining housing affordability, especially among lower-income groups, also brings to light a number of problems related to inequality and social mobility that have important implications for the whole society.
- In addition to the problem of insufficient supply of social housing, social rental units are often not of suitable quality, lacking adequate space and offering limited cost control for families (e.g. in Hungary, many social rental units are in need of substantial repair). This highlights the importance of housing rehabilitation programmes – including those improving energy efficiency – and related funding instruments at EU, national, regional as well as city level.
- Research on the distributional effects of housing allowance in the six countries confirms that this benefit is generally targeted at lower-income households. However, housing allowances may drive up rents by increasing housing demand in a market with limited supply. Landlords may also capture a sizeable share of housing allowances by raising rents when they know that tenants receive housing allowances, as has been the case in the UK.
- Provision of affordable housing is a crucial component of social inclusion. There are large variations across countries in how this issue is approached. Overall, the systems surveyed here could benefit from better targeting, faster administration of benefit schemes and improvements in social housing.
