European Union in
Warsaw,
communist Poland, 1977. According to a 2018 discussion paper of the
European Commission, in 2015, 11.3% of the EU-population lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing. In January 2019, the former
European Commission President,
Romano Prodi, declared that public investment in social infrastructure during the
euro area crisis reached a 20-year low, with investment in social infrastructure in the
EU estimated at €170 billion per year and the minimum infrastructure investment gap in these sectors estimated at €100 to €150 billion, representing a total gap of at least €1.5 trillion between 2018 and 2030. Housing projects in
Europe can be found in
urban areas, as well as in
suburban areas. The EU was moving to support more affordable, energy-efficient and accessible housing with the financial contribution of the
CEB and of the
EIB through its
European Fund for Strategic Investments. Public funding was planned to be directed primarily on affordable housing and secondly in the education and lifelong learning, health and long-term care sectors.
Austria '' constructed during the
Red Vienna period in
Döbling,
Vienna (2009).|alt= Public housing was an important issue right from the foundation of the
Republic of German-Austria in 1918. The population was faced with a great deal of uncertainty particularly as regards food and fuel. This led to a significant number of less affluent people to move to the periphery of towns, often building makeshift homes to be closer to where they could grow food. They were called ('settlers'). As the political situation became stabilised with foundation of the
First Austrian Republic in September 1919, the movement started creating formal organizations like the
Austrian Association for Settlements and Small Gardens. The electoral victory of the
Social Democratic Party of Austria in the elections for the Viennese (city parliament) gave rise to
Red Vienna. Part of their programme was the provision of decent homes for the Viennese working class who made up the core of their supporters. Hence the German word (plural: ) for "municipality building". In Austria, it refers to residential buildings erected by a municipality, usually to provide public housing. These have been an important part of the architecture and culture of
Vienna since the 1920s.
Belgium Social housing is a responsibility of the regions in Belgium. The regions do not directly own the houses, semi-private social housing corporations do. The government regulates and mostly finances these corporations. Below a certain income limit, people are eligible for social housing. Because there is a major shortage of social housing in Belgium, other priority conditions are often imposed, such as having children to care for. Social housing accounts for approximately 6.5% of the Belgian housing market. This is much lower than neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands and France. As of 2018,
Flanders,
Wallonia and
Brussels are responsible for 280,687 social houses, 212,794 people are on the waiting list. For the people on the waiting list there are other possibilities such as subsidies and sociale rental agencies in Flanders.
Denmark In Denmark, public housing is called and is owned and administered by approximately 700 self-governing, democratic and non-profit organizations by and for the tenants themselves. Many of the public housing organizations in Denmark are rooted in the early history of the
labor unions and currently forms about 20% of the total housing stock with about 7,500 departments countrywide. A membership of a housing organization is usually required to obtain a rental and they are granted with regard to length of membership. Although the buildings are owned and administered by self-governing and economically independent organizations, the State of Denmark is strongly regulating public housing in the country. By law, the municipalities have access to 25% of the rentals, usually reserving them for the poor, the unemployed, the disabled or mentally ill or any other group dependent on social benefits from the municipality. Over the years, these regulations have created many '
vulnerable residential areas' within the country. Danish public housing has never had any income restrictions, but in recent years new state regulations has made it mandatory for several of them to favor fully employed renters and disfavor unemployed or part-time employed people. This is a relatively new effort by the state to counter the ghettoisation, which is now an officially recognized problem countrywide. The former ministry was re-opened as Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Affairs in October 2011, when a new coalition government led by
social-democrats was formed.
Finland , Finland. The right to housing is guaranteed in the Finnish constitution, and public housing in Finland is largely funded through loans which are subsidized and guaranteed by the government. Roughly one third of Finland's housing stock has been built this way. Rents for public housing apartments in Finland are typically significantly lower than market-rate housing. Eligibility to live in public housing in Finland is based on a need-based evaluation, and those with very low incomes and those who are experiencing homelessness are given priority. The earliest public housing project in
Finland was in
Helsinki. In 1909, four wooden houses designed by the architect were built on (formerly ) for the city's workers. The residents were mainly working-class families with several children. The apartments had an average of five people per room, sometimes up to eight. The tiny apartments were equipped with running water, a pantry and an attic cupboard. Every apartment had its own toilet in the cellar. Electric lighting was installed in 1918. The homes and lives of worker families in Helsinki from 1909 to 1985 are presented in a museum near the amusement park. In 2008, Helsinki launched its Housing First policy, with the goal of ending homelessness by prioritizing unconditional housing. With municipal, state, and NGO support, and coupled with health and medical services, the program reduced homelessness by 35% between 2008 and 2019. The construction industry was at the time inadequate so political support was needed. It is incorrect to refer to French social housing as public housing. The origins of French social housing lie in the private sector, with the first State aid provided to limited-profit companies by the in 1894. The originally socialist idea was promoted by some French employers in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Public housing companies followed before World War I. The government launched a series of major construction plans, including the creation of
new towns () and new suburbs with
HLM (, "low-rent housing"). The state had the funds and
the legal means to acquire the land and could provide some advantages to the companies that then built its huge housing complexes of hundreds of apartments. Quality was also effectively regulated, resulting in decent or even top quality housing for the standard of the 1950s and 1960s. The construction of HLMs were subject to much political debate. Much smaller developments are now the norm. This housing is now generally referred to as , a slightly wider sphere than just housing. France still retains this system, a recent law making it an obligation for every town to have at least 20% HLM. Nowadays HLM represents roughly half of the rental market (46% in 2006). Social housing is not all for disadvantaged people who are just one of the target groups. Part of the funding can be provided by employer-employee groups to provide housing for local employees. The 20% target can include intermediate housing for better off groups, although its object is to produce social mix. Gentrification and the very basis of social housing allocation are divisive issues as well as the extent of local control of housing. This housing has always been a multi-actor activity and recent local government reorganization continues to change the political landscape. While they succeeded in giving lower-income families a place to live in the drive to provide popular housing, this system also led to the creation of suburban ghettos, with a problem of disrepair. There has been a long-term problem of gradual impoverishment of social tenants There, deprived strata of the population, mostly of immigrant origin and suffering massive under-employment, might in the past have been left to simmer away from the more affluent urban centres, sometimes becoming rife with social tensions and violence. This affects a minority of social housing but has a high profile and still produces serious tension. Tackling this problem at its roots is all but simple, and social mix policies can break up populations seen as difficult by redevelopment. This has not had the hoped for results. It has also been sought to resolve the problem of access to the system by disadvantaged people by a new system where certain groups can apply to court to be housed if refused, the "right to housing". This tends to intensify the controversy over social housing allocation, who should be housed. The French tradition of 'universal' social housing allocation – housing for everyone is called into question by
EU competition law restricting subsidy except for the disadvantaged. In any event, the system is certainly effective in producing construction, although not with the excesses seen in the
recent credit crunch elsewhere. According to a study by the Banque des Territoires in 2025, building new or renovated social housing seems impossible given the budgetary equation in France.
Germany (
"New development area"), 1987.|alt= Between 1925 and 1930, Germany was the site of innovative and extensive municipal public housing projects, mostly in
Berlin, Hamburg,
Cologne and
Frankfurt. These housing estates (), were made necessary by the dreadful living conditions of pre-war urban tenements. The 1919
Weimar Constitution in Article 155 stated that the state would "promote the object of assuring to every German a healthful habitation", but few homes were built until the economy stabilised in 1925. The new German housing estates were low-rise, no more than five stories, and in suburban settings. Residents were provided access to light, air, and sun. The size, shape, orientation and architectural style of Germany's public housing were informed by the recent experience of the Viennese, the Dutch, the anti-urban
Garden City Movement in Britain, the new industrialized mass-production and pre-fabrication building techniques, the novel use of steel and glass, and by the progressive-liberal policies of the
Social Democrats. In 1930 in the industrial city of , the ('Houses with Balcony Access') were designed by
Bauhaus director for a
housing cooperative that wanted apartments it could let for no more than a quarter of the occupant's income. Working on a tight budget inspired money and space saving innovations, such as using balcony walkways for access to the apartments rather than having internal corridors and clever use of the internal space in the apartments. Architects , and others built the
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, now a
World Heritage Site, consisting of thousands of homes built in and around Berlin, including the
Horseshoe Estate (named for its shape), and ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' estate (named after a local restaurant). In Frankfurt the architect lead the
New Frankfurt public housing project, in which over 12,000 apartments were built 1925–1930. May ran his own sizable research facility to investigate, for instance, air-flow in various floorplan configurations, construction techniques, etc. The Austrian architect applied the principles of
Taylorism to the kitchen workspace and developed the
Frankfurt kitchen while working for . Beyond technical research, May also published two magazines and embarked on a significant public-relations project, with films and classes and public exhibitions, to make acceptable to the public. In the late 1920s, the principles of equal access to ('light, air and sun') and the social effects of a state-guaranteed ("minimum subsistence level") became a matter of lively popular debate all over Germany. One indirect result of this publicity was the American housing movement: a young
Catherine Bauer attended one of May's conferences in 1930, and wrote her influential book
Modern Housing (1934) based on research done in Frankfurt and with Dutch architect . Increasing pressure from the rising
Nazis brought this era to an end in 1933. A majority of the German public housing experts had social democrat or communist sympathies and were forced out of the country. In
East Germany, the communist administration built monolithic apartment blocks and estates. Most new residential buildings from the 1960s onward were built in this style, as it was a quick and relatively cheap way to address the country's severe housing shortage, which had been caused by wartime bombing raids and the
large influx of German refugees from further east. Today, much social housing in Germany is operated by local housing companies (
kommunale Wohnungsunternehmen) providing both market rent and social rent properties. Such companies are ultimately owned by the local authority but they are equipped with operational independence and access to capital markets, resembling the housing association model rather than the council housing model. Designated social rent properties are only available to individuals presenting a Housing Entitlement Certificate (
Wohnberechtigungsschein, or
WBS) issued by their local authority.
Hungary -
Kispest. (short form: ) is the name of a type of
block of flats (
panel buildings) in
Hungary. It was the main
housing type built in the
Socialist era. From 1959 to 1990 788,000 panel
flats were built in Hungary. About 2 million people, about one fifth of the
country's total population, live in these flats. The Hungarian government and local municipalities began a renovation program during the 2000s. In the program they have insulated these buildings, replaced the old doors and windows with multi-layer thermo glass, renewed the heating system and colored the buildings in a more pleasant way.
Ireland In Ireland, public housing and
halting sites (sites used by semi-nomadic
Traveller communities) have been built by local authorities and are known as
Local Authority Accommodation.
Dublin Corporation and the former
Dublin County Council provided the lion's share of Irish local authority housing, with
County Longford having the largest ratio of local authority to private housing in the state. Large-scale social housing was erected in the 1930s and 1960s, with both cases following
slum clearance. Critics argue that the National Building Agency focused too much on housing delivery, and failed to deliver retail and other services. As the Irish state's ability to borrow is diminished government policy favours an increased role for private financing of housing associations instead of capital grants for local authorities. Ireland currently faces a severe shortage of social and council housing, and is experiencing a housing and homelessness crisis.
Netherlands In the
Netherlands, the rent for the cheaper rental homes is kept low through governmental oversight and regulation. These types of homes are known as . In practice this is accomplished by non-profit private housing foundations or associations (). Due to frequent mergers the number of these organizations dropped to around 430 by 2009. They manage 2.4 million dwellings. The majority of low-rent apartments in the Netherlands are owned by such organisations. Since the policy changed in 1995 the social housing organizations have become financially independent, focusing on their role as social entrepreneurs. In most Dutch municipalities there came to exist a certain minimum capacity of social housing throughout the last decades. In many cities such as
Amsterdam,
The Hague,
Rotterdam and
Utrecht the percentage of social housing approaches or even passes 50 percent. The public (financial) supervision is done by the central fund for housing (). There is a Homeownership Guarantee Fund to support the National Mortgage Guarantee, which provides access to finance and purchase owner-occupied housing.
Romania , Romania.|alt= The skyline of many Romanian cities became dominated by standardized apartment blocks under the former communist government's policy of tower bloc construction. Beginning in 1974, systematization consisted largely of the demolition and reconstruction of existing villages, towns, and cities, in whole or in part, with the stated goal of turning Romania into a "multilaterally developed socialist society". In 2012, 2.7 million flats date from the communist period, accounting for 37% of total housing in Romania and for about 70% in cities and towns. Subsequent to post-communist privatization, the homeownership rate in this form of housing reached of 99.9%. The new Home Owner Associations (HOAs) were challenged internally by the cumulative effect of defaulting contributions, lack of affordability and the established practice of casual resident service in HOAs, which often triggered mismanagement. On the other hand, HOAs were challenged from outside by non-effective mechanisms to address their internal problems, such as non-existent fast court procedures against defaulting, poor financial assistance to socially disadvantaged households and a private sector unprepared to take on condominium management.
Spain award, in , Spain. Spaniards' reluctance to home rental, and government spending cuts in the 1980s, reduced rented public housing in Spain to a minimum. Rented public houses were relatively common in the
Franco era (1939–75). With the advent of
democracy and the
1978 Constitution, the right to housing became guaranteed, and the management of social housing depended mostly on the
autonomous regions. This resulted in a wide variety of laws, which make the issue highly dependent on the region. In spite of this, a scheme for (VPO) has been widely used, consisting of local councils allowing for building contractors and developers to build in public sites or with public loans on condition that a certain percentage of apartments remain subsidized and under control of the local authorities. This is known as ('privately developed'), as opposed to the ('publicly developed'), in which the whole property is owned and managed by a government authority. Publicly developed housing is made almost exclusively for owner-occupation, not rent, and made up 11% of the housing stock in 2010.
Sweden Swedish public housing, handled by (public-good housing companies), consists mainly
apartments owned by the local council. Unlike many other countries, Swedish public housing has never had any income restrictions. Instead, for large parts of the period between 1920 and 1990 (for instance, during the era of
Million Programme), public housing companies such as were the major operators in housing projects as well as in projects aiming to acquire old and worn down buildings. Although not carrying out housebuilding nor acquisition projects in recent times, the policies lead to a ubiquitous presence of publicly owned buildings throughout the cities of Sweden, including attractive urban areas, with a rather wide range of income among the tenants. New regulations, implemented in the first decade of the 21st century, have enabled tenants in public housing to buy their buildings, which has led to a significant loss of public housing in attractive urban areas.
Slovakia and Czechia in
Prešov,
Slovakia.|250x250px ,
Czechia. Forms of housing projects may vary in
Slovakia. In the former
Czechoslovakia (now
Czech Republic and
Slovakia) during the
communist era, a construction of large
housing estates (, ) was an important part of building plans in the former Czechoslovakia. The government wanted to provide large quantities of fast and
affordable housing and to slash costs by employing uniform designs over the whole country. They also sought to foster a "collectivist nature" in people. People living in these housing projects can either usually own their
apartments or rent them, usually through a private landlord. There's usually a mix of
social classes in these housing projects.
United Kingdom ,
Greater Manchester, England.|333x333px in
Sheffield,
Yorkshire, England. In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to by the British public as "
council housing" and "council estates", based on the historical role of district and borough councils in running public housing. Mass council house building began in about 1920 in order to replace older and dilapidated properties. Housing was a major policy area under
Wilson's Labour government, 1964 to 1970, with an accelerated pace of new building, as there was still a great deal of unfit housing needing replacement. Tower blocks, first built in the 1950s, featured prominently in this era. The proportion of council housing rose from 42% to 50% of the nation's housing total, while the number of council homes built increased steadily, from 119,000 in 1964 to 133,000 in 1965 and to 142,000 in 1966. Allowing for demolitions, 1.3 million new homes were built between 1965 and 1970. To encourage home ownership, the government introduced the Option Mortgage Scheme (1968), which made low-income house buyers eligible for subsidies (equivalent to
tax relief on mortgage interest payments). This scheme had the effect of reducing housing costs for buyers on low incomes. Since the 1970s, non-profit
housing associations have been operating an increasing share of social housing properties in the United Kingdom. From 1996 they have also been known as
registered social landlords (RSLs), and public housing has been referred to as "social housing" to encompass both councils and RSLs. Despite being non-profit based, RSLs generally charge higher rents than councils. However, the Westminster government introduced a "rent re-structuring" policy for housing associations in England in 2002, which aimed to bring council and RSL rents into line in England by 2012. Local planning departments may require private-sector developers to offer "affordable housing" as a condition of
planning permission (
section 106 agreement). This accounts for another £700m of government funding each year for tenants in part of the United Kingdom. As of 2012, housing associations are now also referred to as "private registered providers of social housing" (PRPs). , North London. Local authorities have been discouraged from building council housing since 1979 following the election of Conservative leader
Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. The
Parker Morris standard was abolished for those that were built, resulting in smaller room sizes and fewer facilities. The
Right to Buy was introduced, resulting in the move of some of the best stock from public tenanted to private owner occupation. Since the year 2000, "choice-based lettings" (CBL) have been introduced to help ensure social housing was occupied speedily as tenants moved. This can still favour the local over the non-local prospective tenant. In a number of local authority areas, due to the shortage of council housing, three out of four properties may be designated for priority cases (those living in poor overcrowded conditions, with medical or welfare needs, or needing family support) or homeless applicants in order to meet the councils' legal obligations to rehouse people in need. The percentage of properties set aside for vulnerable groups will vary dependent on the demand for council housing in the area. All local authorities have a Housing Strategy to ensure that council houses are let fairly and fulfil the council's legal obligations; deal with people in need; and contribute to sustainability of housing estates, neighbourhood regeneration, and social inclusion. The 1997–2010 Labour government wished to move council housing away from local authority management. At first, this was through
large-scale voluntary transfers (LSVT) of stock from councils to
housing associations (HAs). Not all council property could be transferred, as in some local authorities, their housing stock was in poor condition and had a capital value less than the remaining debts from construction costs—in effect, the council stock was in negative equity. In some local authority areas, the tenants rejected the transfer option. The Labour government introduced a "third way": the
arms-length management organisation (ALMO), where the housing stock stays with the local authority but is managed by a not-for-profit organisation at arm's length from the local authority. It also introduced the
Decent Homes programme, a capital fund to bring social housing up to a modern physical standard. To use this fund, the manager, whether ALMO or HA, had to achieve a 2 or 3 star rating from its inspection by the
Audit Commission. This was intended to drive up management standards. Council landlords cannot access this funding, another incentive to transfer management of council housing to an ALMO or HA. Governments since the early 1990s have also encouraged "mixed
tenure" in regeneration areas and on "new-build" housing estates, offering a range of ownership and rental options, with a view to engineering social harmony through including "social housing" and "
affordable housing" options. A recent research report has argued that the evidence base for tenure mixing remains thin. Social housing occupants may be stigmatised and forced to use a
poor door that is separate and less convenient than the door the unsubsidised occupants use and social housing may be less desirably situated. After the adoption of
austerity policies in 2010 the traditional "safety net" model was maintained by the devolved administrations like the
Scottish and
Welsh Parliaments and the
Northern Ireland Assembly. Most UK social housing tenants have the right to swap homes with another tenant even if their landlords are different. This is called a "
mutual exchange". As of 2017, in England, local authorities can destinate homeless households in local tenancies, whereas in Scotland social housing remained the first chosen policy. According to the
Museum of Homelessness, in 2020 the UK recorded at least 976 deaths among homeless people. In 2019 England and Wales estimated 778 deaths with an increase of 7.2% on the previous year.
Former Soviet Union of late USSR,
Moscow, Russia. , winter in
Tallinn,
Estonia|250x250px In the
Soviet Union, most of the houses built after World War II were usually 3–5 stories high, with small apartments. In these boroughs, the goal was saving space and creating as many apartments as possible. Construction starting in the 1970s favored 9- and 16-story concrete panel municipal housing in major cities, 7–12 stories in smaller urban areas. These housing projects are still used in some countries, especially in countries in
central and eastern Europe, and most of them are slowly being renovated. == Oceania ==