Government regulation versus market orientation in social housing management; limitations and opportunities for European and Australian landlords

Abstract

In the past ten to twenty years, governments in various countries have introduced or reinforced market principles in their housing systems. As a consequence, social landlords should have increased opportunities to adopt a more market-oriented approach towards the management of their housing stock. Nevertheless, in many countries governments still have a substantial influence on the social rented housing sector. In this paper we analyse the influence of statutory regulations on the management of the social rented housing stock in four European countries and in Australia, in order to assess to what extent these regulations help or impede the development of a market-oriented asset management. We carry out this analysis in four areas: rent setting, sale of dwellings, allocation of dwellings to tenants, and maintenance and renewal. After an explanation of the term `marketoriented¿ in relation to asset management, we describe government restrictions to social housing management in the countries under consideration. We go into current policies and their implications for asset management. We analyse the room for a market-oriented policy and the extent to which this kind of policy has become common among social landlords.