Policy makers at all levels – global, national, regional, municipal, community associations – are attempting to respond to the issue of affordable housing, a highly complex crisis of global proportions, with a myriad of policy instruments. infrastructural changes. There has been an increase among policy makers in affordable housing as the price of housing has increased dramatically creating a crisis in affordable housing. "Housing Policies provide a remarkable litmus test for the values of politicians at every level of office and of the varied communities that influence them. Often this test measures simply the warmth or coldness of heart of the more affluent and secure towards families of a lower socio-economic status." Among
politicians homeowners are overrepresented. Homeowners tend to prefer policies which make housing less affordable. To combat
slums,
homelessness, and other social and economic impacts of a housing unaffordability, many groups have argued for a "
right to housing". Article 25 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to housing as part of the
right to an adequate standard of living. Article 11(1) of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) also guarantees the right to housing as part of the
right to an adequate standard of living.
Supply-side approaches Policies that reduce housing cost though increased housing supply include favorable land use policies such as
inclusionary zoning, relaxation of environmental regulations, and the enforcement of affordable housing quotas in new developments. In some countries, such as Canada and the United States, municipal governments began to play a greater role in developing and implementing policies regarding form and density of municipal housing in residential districts, as early as the 1950s. Some municipalities have also reduced the amount of
parking that must be built for a new structure to reduce land acquisition and construction costs. Other common strategies include reducing permitting costs and wait times for new housing, permitting small-lot development, multi-family tax exemptions, density bonuses, preserving existing affordable housing, and transit-oriented development. Existing housing that is affordable may be used, instead of building new structures. This is called "Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing", or NOAH. In a
housing cooperative people join on a democratic basis to own or manage the housing facility in which they live. Generally these housing units are owned and controlled collectively by a corporation which is owned and controlled jointly by a group of individuals who have equal shares in that corporation. In market rate cooperatives owners can accumulate equity and sell their share of the corporation at market rate. In a limited-equity housing cooperative there are restrictions on the profits members can earn from selling their share (such as caps on sale price) to meant to maintain affordable housing. Homeowners then purchase or build a home on land trust property but do not purchase the land thus reducing costs. If the homeowner sells, they may be limited on what they may sell the home for or the family may earn only a portion of the increased property value with the remainder kept by the trust to preserve affordable housing There are over 225 community land trusts in the United States.
Right to build An article by
libertarian writer
Virginia Postrel in the November 2007 issue of
Atlantic Monthly reported on a study of the cost of obtaining the "right to build" (i.e. a
planning permission, red tape, bureaucracy, etc.) in different U.S. cities. The "right to build" cost does not include the cost of the land or the cost of constructing the house. The study was conducted by
Harvard economists
Edward Glaeser and Kristina Tobio. According to the chart accompanying the article, the cost of obtaining the "right to build" adds approximately $600,000 to the cost of each new house that is built in San Francisco. The study, cited, published by Ed Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko, reached its conclusion about the value of the right to build in different localities based on a methodology of comparing the cost of single-family homes on quarter-acre versus half-acre lots to get a marginal land price and then comparing the selling price of homes to construction costs to get a price for the land plus other costs, with the difference between the two being attributed to the cost of zoning and other local government permitting and regulations.
Government restrictions Many governments put restrictions on the size or cost of a dwelling that people can live in, making it essentially illegal to live permanently in a house that is too small, low-cost or not compliant with other government-defined requirements. Generally, these laws are implemented in an attempt to raise the perceived "standard" of housing across the country. This can lead to thousands of houses across a country being left empty for much of the year even when there is a great need for more affordable housing; such is the case in countries like Sweden,
Norway,
Finland and
Denmark, where there is a common tradition to have a
summer house. This sometimes raises concerns for the respect of rights such as the
right to use one's property. In the United States, most cities have zoning codes that set the minimum size for a housing unit (often 400 square feet) as well as the number of non-related persons who can live together in one unit, resulting in having "outlawed the bottom end of the private housing market, driving up rents on everything above it." In California in 2021, researchers estimated that parking requirements increase the cost of building affordable housing by up to $36,000 per unit, and up to $75,000 per unit in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Until 2018, in Los Angeles, for an affordable housing development to be allowed to be built, it required a "letter of acknowledgement" from the city councilperson in whose district it would be constructed. This allowed city council members to block affordable housing developments in their district without having to give any reason. In 2021, former
President Joe Biden launched the Emergency Housing Vouchers program (EVH) as part of the
American Rescue Plan Act, developed post the
COVID-19 pandemic to assist Americans experiencing
domestic violence, homelessness, and
human trafficking. On March 6, 2025, the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a letter announcing that funding for the program is expected to end by of 2026.
Demand-side approaches One potential means of addressing affordable housing is through public policy instruments that focus on the demand side of the market, programs that help households reach financial benchmarks that make housing affordable. This can include approaches that simply promote economic growth in generalin the hope that a stronger economy, higher employment rates, and higher wages will increase the ability of households to acquire housing at market prices. Federal government policies define banking and mortgage lending practices, tax and regulatory measures affecting building materials, professional practices (ex. real estate transactions).
Subsidy-based approaches Subsidies can alleviate housing costs and expenses, while increasing demand for housing. Subsidy-based approaches may take the form of government sponsored rental subsidies, government sponsored rental supplements, tax credits, or housing provided by a non-for-profit. The purchasing power of individual households can be enhanced through tax and fiscal policies that result in reducing the cost of mortgages and the cost of borrowing. Public policies may include the implementation of subsidy programs and incentive patterns for average households. Each family is responsible for contributing labor towards the construction of the housing complex to reduce costs and members take on responsibilities before, during, and after the construction. The Uruguayan Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM) has completed nearly 500 housing cooperatives housing more than 25,000 families.
Public, state, or social housing approaches Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually built and owned by a government authority, either central or local. In some countries, public housing is focused on providing affordable housing for low-income earners while in others, such as
Singapore, citizens across a wide range of incomes live in public housing. In Vienna, Austria, social housing may be completely government built and run or include a mixture of public land and private-sector construction and management. Combined, the two types of housing represent about 46 percent of the city's housing stock (26% government owned and managed and 20% a public/private partnership) and house people with a wide variety of incomes.
Design-based approaches Containerized housing units home Containerized housing units are
pre-fabricated housing units
built out of shipping containers or similar containers. They can be stacked or connected to make a larger home, or to make a block of multi-family housing. Reefer containers or
refrigerated containers are
containers built to haul refrigerated or frozen products. Compared to standard shipping containers, they have good
insulation in the walls, ceiling, and floor, so they maintain a more comfortable temperature.
Triple decker triplex concept with standing seem
metal roof with thin film solar. The left and right side doors go to the 2nd and 3rd floors respectively.
Triple-decker triplex housing is more prominent in the
New England area and became popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century with the
immigration from Europe during that time. Each floor is separately owned or rented out. If they are owned like a condo an
HOA maintains ownership of the outside and yard.
Over-1s 5-over-1s down to 1-over-1 buildings have the parking spaces below the living spaces and allow for higher density building, because
parking lots take up a lot of space and on street parking limits the density of zoning for a particular lot.
Adaptive reuse In the United States, "adaptive reuse" has been proposed by affordable housing experts as a way to increase the supply of affordable housing. As opposed to new construction, adaptive reuse involves the repurposing of old structures into housing or mixed-use developments. This is considered more sustainable than building new because the developed structures already exist as underused, abandoned, or functionally obsolete buildings. Adaptive reuse has also been described as less expensive than new construction. According to 2023 estimates, 90 percent of U.S. real estate growth by 2033 will entail the adaptive reuse of existing buildings rather than new construction.
Self-built (owner-built) housing Low-tech, low-cost, traditionally designed, sustainable, self-built homes can enable individuals to construct affordable, healthy housing using local materials. The process may be assisted by free-to-access plans optimised for single-person construction, that are also easily adapted to a broad variety of locations and climates. An example of this approach is the Tasmanian House project in Australia. ==Affordable housing by country==