Social Housing in the European Union

Abstract

The following article summarizes the findings of the report «2012 Housing Europe Review» (Pittini and Laino, 2011), published by the European Social Housing Observatory – the research department of the international not for profit organisation CECODHAS Housing Europe. This Review focuses on social housing in the European Union and aims at providing a clearer picture of the way social housing systems are structured across the EU, while identifying the main recent developments in the sector. In this article we attempt a brief analysis of the social housing sector from different perspectives: the diversity of definitions at the national level and common characteristics across Europe, the size of the sector, which kind of actors are involved in social housing provision, who can benefit from a social dwelling in the different national contexts, how the sector is financed and what are the most significant trends and challenges.