The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Housing Policies in the European Union

Project briefing

  • Status Completed
  • Project duration January 2018 – September 2021
  • Programme ExWoSt

Housing policy is a central field of action for all Member States of the European Union. Its manifestation in each country is the product of an individual historical evolutionary path, local market structures as well as the national regulatory framework and funding policy measures. For the German EU Council Presidency in 2020, this research project conducted for the BBSR and BMI aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the different programmatic approaches and characteristics of national housing policies. Selected housing policy issues are analysed in greater depth, based on a number of case studies.

Background

Housing policy plays an important role in domestic policies in all EU Member States. In order to facilitate learning from international experiences and to improve information exchange on national policy options, an informal framework of meetings was established (Housing Focal Points) for the housing ministers of the Member States and their key administrative staff. This framework also includes the provision of national statistical data and focused information on specific housing-related issues.

A successful international exchange requires a mutual understanding of the working principles of given policy instruments, be they national-specific or EU directives transposed into national law. Firstly, this must be based on a sound knowledge of both the constitutive structure and the objectives of national housing policies, as well as their further development. Intended to assist in the preparation of Germany’s EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2020, this project provided an overview of the programmatic foundations and actual developments of housing policies in the EU Member States, providing an initial perspective on the interaction of markets, regulatory environment and policy instruments in each given national context.

Housing policy in a narrow sense focuses on the quantitative and qualitative provision of housing space. It is particularly concerned with the availability, accessibility and affordability of housing for different social groups. Despite these fundamental goals, housing policies differ considerably in the 28 EU Member States. Against the background of national housing stocks and changing housing needs, individual national housing policy profiles have developed over time. But there has been a lack of research dealing specifically with present housing policies in Europe on a comparative basis.

Objective

Given similar challenges of housing provision, a comprehensive and systematic overview of goals, problems, steering approaches and actors is required. This includes the current status of housing policies in all EU Member States as well as recent changes in challenges and responses.

This overview should be used to identify structural similarities among the housing policies and to build country clusters. Against the background of cross-border developments through economic interdependencies and supranational policies, an outline of the relevance of European activities for the national housing policies is necessary.

The contractors for the research project were the Institute for Housing and Environment, Darmstadt and the TU Darmstadt as subcontractors.

Housing Policies in the EU Individual publication

Contact us

  • Jonathan Franke
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division WB 9 "Housing and Climate Protection, Construction Industry"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-1655
    Email: jonathan.franke@bbr.bund.de

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