Social Housing - A Key Part of Past and Pandemic Impacts

This Social housing represents a crucial facet of social welfare policy and affordable housing provision, constituting over 28 million residences, accounting for approximately 6% of the total housing inventory in OECD and non-OECD EU nations. Considerable variations exist among countries regarding the definition, scale, extent, target demographic, and provider types within the realm of social housing. Although social mixing remains a primary goal in many countries’ social housing sectors, there’s a growing concentration of lower-income and vulnerable occupants, leading to a diminished diversity of income levels. This trend poses challenges to the economic viability of the sector, fostering an increased spatial clustering of poverty and disadvantage. The size of the social housing sector has dwindled in recent years in nearly all countries with available data, except for six, while the absolute count of social housing units has declined in just four countries with available data. This decline can be attributed, in part, to reduced public investment in housing stock. The pandemic has significantly disrupted construction, rendering it challenging for numerous households to afford shelter and adversely impacting the housing sector. Many countries have initiated substantial revitalization projects to enhance the quality of social dwellings and their surrounding neighborhoods, aiming to address persistent challenges associated with social housing, such as segregation. Policymakers must ensure that renovation efforts do not displace low-income households.