The Recovery and Resilience Plans that were launched in response to the COVID-19 crisis mark a shift in the European Union’s approach to crisis management that involves expanding the use of community funds to address housing challenges through an integrated and multidimensional framework. In Portugal, the 1st Right – Housing Access Support Programme serves as the primary mechanism for tackling housing precarity, making it the main recipient of this funding. This article examines the programme’s implementation through three core dimensions: progress towards quantitative targets, equity in territorial funding distribution, and institutional capacity. It analyses how housing precarity is defined in housing policies, how resources are distributed across municipalities, and what challenges hinder the programme’s effectiveness. The findings highlight the need for process optimisation, strategic planning, and stronger support for disadvantaged regions to ensure that the programme meets its goals of social and territorial cohesion. By drawing lessons from the Portuguese case, this study provides insights for other EU Member States, highlighting the importance of policy frameworks that combine shared objectives with locally responsive implementations.
For nearly 20 years, the ‘Housing Subsidy 690’ programme has provided economic aid to those experiencing homelessness in the city of Buenos Aires. In practice, it bridges two precarious housing situations: living on the street and living in the city’s single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels. Although it was initially created as a housing programme that was intended to address the shortcomings of previous policies towards homelessness and solve a complex issue, nearly 20 years after its creation a certain inertia around the policy can be perceived, as well as fractures in its functioning. Drawing on interviews with beneficiaries and professionals involved in the administration of the subsidy, as well as a review of secondary data, this article describes the functioning of the programme and suggests that it constitutes a form of policy inertia that contributes to perpetuating housing instability and homelessness. We argue that receiving the subsidy does not resolve housing vulnerability, as it contributes to an intermittent cycle between these unstable housing conditions, thereby reproducing this vulnerability.
This study examines the impact of Poland’s ‘2% Safe Mortgage’ policy on dwelling price inflation in both the primary and secondary markets. Using quarterly data from Q2 2011 to Q4 2024 for the seven largest cities in Poland and a VAR model with forecast scenarios, the analysis finds that the policy had a measurable effect on price dynamics. In the primary market, the credit shock led to an additional increase in dwelling price inflation of approximately 6.7 percentage points by the third quarter. In the secondary market, the effect was stronger, reaching around 7.4 percentage points compared to a no-policy scenario. A significant share of price growth was also driven by indirect factors, including expectations of further increases. The analysis shows the importance of well-designed government policy in shaping housing market outcomes and mitigating unintended price pressures.
This article assesses the impact of the Integral Redevelopment Project (PIRU) in the Playón de Chacarita neighbourhood, an informal settlement in Buenos Aires, based on a policy designed to address housing shortages for vulnerable groups. Using quantitative methods, the study compares data from 2010, 2016 (an ad hoc), and 2022 censuses to evaluate the programme’s success in reducing overcrowding and enhancing housing conditions. Results indicate significant improvements, with overcrowding falling from 20% to 2%, a figure that matches wider urban benchmarks. However, the analysis reveals persistent challenges in curbing housing informality, as post-PIRU data show an unanticipated rise in the number of dwellings, suggesting that there are flaws in beneficiary targeting or that the expansion of the informal settlement has continued. The findings emphasise the need for consistent evaluation methodologies in housing policies and highlight the limitations of localised interventions without broader socioeconomic reforms.
For three decades, Private Rented Sector (PRS) growth has been driven by part-time, small-scale, profit-seeking landlords in several Western nations. While the characteristics and motivations of these landlords have been examined in some geographies, far less is known about their investment decision-making, particularly their reasons for choosing the PRS over alternative investment options. This matters because these decisions shape the sector’s growth and tenant welfare. The study begins to address this gap by exploring the role of asset tangibility in landlord investment decisions, drawing on research from other investment domains. A mixed methods study was conducted, comprising an online survey of 1,033 Scottish landlords and follow-up interviews with 33 landlords and PRS professionals. Findings suggest that some landlords exhibit a bias towards the ‘bricks and mortar’ tangibility of PRS investment, which shapes risk perceptions and aspects of their investment decision-making. The findings have several implications. For landlords, there are concerns around investment efficacy; for policymakers, questions about landlord financial literacy; and for tenants, risks to their welfare from landlord decision-making. While the findings are not directly transferable, they are likely to have salience in other nations with established PRSs, including Australia, Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe.
