22: Housing policies for changing societies

Overview & Synopsis

High-quality, affordable housing is critical for society because it improves health, financial freedom, independence, and household stability and security. Homeownership can also promote wealth building for low-income households. Yet past studies on welfare state reform paid little attention to housing despite a large body of literature focusing on housing policy, its determinants, and its social consequences. Two primary theoretical approaches to understanding housing systems imply that reform trends indicate either possible convergence or the absence of it, though they do not specifically focus on change. There are still some differences among European housing markets; however, no country seems to have escaped the process of financialization, recommodification, and residualization that contribute to housing unaffordability. These policy-driven changes affect politics and impact important subgroups like low-income households and young people.