Exploring institutional investment in social rental housing in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France

Institutional investment in social rental housing: France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom explored

In the United Kingdom, social landlords are facing decreasing governmental financial support for them to fulfil their role in the provision of social housing, which has led to increasing pressure on them to rely on private capital. Traditionally, bank loans were the main source of private capital, but after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and...

Competition between social and market renting: A theoretical application of the structure-conduct-performance paradigm

Housing policies in many countries have become more market orientated as the role of governments has shifted from the direct supply and funding of non-market housing towards the role of a regulator and facilitator. Central to this development is the notion that providers of social housing have to become more competitive. Arguably, these social...

The role of policy in supporting the private rented sector: International comparisons

The size of the private rented housing sector (PRS) varies markedly between coun-tries. The paper explores the role of policy in supporting the PRS with emphasis on the evidence from France, Germany, the UK and the USA. The definition and meas-urement of the size of the sector in each country is considered. A key issue that is explored is the...

Using the private rented sector as a form of social housing

The paper considers the role of the private rented sector in supplying housing that can be defined as social housing. It will do this by considering policy initiatives in Germany, France, the USA and England that use privately owned housing to meet social needs. The operation of these initiatives will be compared. The allocation and rent...

Universalistic, particularistic and middle way approaches to comparing the private rental sector

The paper will argue that the meaning and definition of private renting varies from country to country and this presents a series of challenges for comparative research. It will demonstrate a lack of equivalence between “private rented housing sectors” in Western Europe and show that this arises from variations in definitions, property rights,...

Private sector involvement in social rented housing

The paper examines, with the aid of evidence from several countries, alternative models of private sector involvement in the delivery of social housing. Four models of involvement are considered: public model with contracts for certain tasks; private model with public subsidy plus strings; private actor cross subsidization model and a state...

The meaning of competition between social and market rented housing

When policy makers claim that rented housing has to become more competitive, there is no consensus on what competition in this context actually means. The same holds true for scientific housing research: Theories that have utilized the economic concept of competition tend to rely on implicit definitions or focus on selected aspects. In...

Comparative housing research in the new millenium: Methodological and theoretical contributions from the first decade

Comparative housing research encompasses a broad range of strategies and foci, which has promoted the exchange of information, catalysed policy development and encouraged theoretical debate. This presentation briefly outlines the different purpose (policy description, evaluation, strategic understanding and theoretical explanation), logical...

Bridging the gap between social and market rented housing in six European countries?

The once clear demarcation of funding and roles of the social and market rental sectors seems to have become blurred in a number of European countries. Social renting is no longer provided only by non-profit organisations. The extent to which a gap can be identified between the social and market rental sectors in six countries in north-west...