Delivering Social Housing: An Overview of the Housing Crisis in Dublin
This paper explores the responses to the housing crisis in Dublin, Ireland, by analysing recent housing policies promoted to prevent family homelessness. I argue that private rental market subsides have played an increasing role in the provision of social housing in Ireland. Instead of policies that facilitate the construction of affordable housing or the direct construction of social housing, current housing policies have addressed the social housing crisis by encouraging and relying excessively on the private market to deliver housing. The housing crisis has challenged governments to increase the social housing supply, but the implementation of a larger plan to deliver social housing has not been effective, as is evidenced by the rapid decline of both private and social housing supply and the increasing number of homeless people in Dublin.
Privileged but Challenged: The State of Social Housing in Austria in 2018
On the one hand, Austrian social housing is stronger than ever due to the growing importance that social rental apartments play on the housing market. The volume, price, and quality standards of this housing are competitive with what is found in other sectors of the market and the social housing sector also helped to mitigate the effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). On the other hand, pressure on the rental housing market has increased because demand for cheap housing has grown more than supply. The social housing sector thus has to address the vital question of how to increase targeting on low-income households and vulnerable groups and at the same time to maintain social mix and public support. In this paper I argue that the sector, in spite of its strong position, is facing some common European challenges that will redefine its role in the future. Yet, the social housing sector is overburdened if expected to solve many problems that have arisen due to non-housing issues.
