The Privatisation of Social Housing in European Welfare States

Abstract

The literature about the consequences for welfare states of the economic developments of the last twenty-five years has tended to emphasise country differences. In contrast, interpretations of developments in social housing focus much more on similarities, with privatisation often being viewed as the common policy response. The author uses longitudinal data for thirteen countries to examine whether social housing is actually different in this respect. The analysis shows that, whereas in some countries there has been a reduction in social housing's share of total housing production, in other countries there has been an increase. These international differences are not explained by different demographic and economic developments. The author offers alternative explanations.