A/68/289
4.
A nearly unanimous belief in individual homeownership marginalized public
rental housing; in many countries most of such housing was sold off. 4 Similarly, the
process led to radical changes in tenure structure; in many formerly planned
economies owner-occupied housing now forms the bulk of the housing stock (for
example, 96 per cent in Estonia and 77 per cent in Slovenia 5 and more than 80 per
cent in China 6). Even in countries where massive privatization did not occur, the
ideological transfer of responsibility for the provision of housing to the market has
been accompanied by the view that individual homeownership is the best tenure
option and the centre of all housing policies. Some countries with a long tradition of
broad-based social rental housing redefined their systems to promote ownership and
“free market” principles. With subsidized accommodation less available, some
households that might have otherwise rented were pushed towards homeownership.
5.
In her previous report (A/67/286, paras. 10-13), the Special Rapporteur
highlighted how the deregulation, liberalization and globalization of housing finance
have had major implications for housing and urban development, eventually leading
to the global affordability and housing crisis we are witnessing today. Housing costs
are disproportionately affecting the poor and in Europe represent an average of
41 per cent of the income of people at risk of poverty. 7 The affordability crisis is
compounded by the erosion, neglect and liberalization of non-market mechanisms
for allocating housing resources, such as rental housing (public and private) and
different forms of cooperative and collective ownership, among others. 8
6.
Paradoxically, side by side with the housing affordability and availability
crises there is also a phenomenon of millions of empty or under occupied housing
units, a clear reflection of the ineffectiveness of the current model. For illustration,
there are nearly 1 million empty homes in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
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6
7
8
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United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Affordable Land and Housing in
Europe and North America (Nairobi, 2011), p. 9; see also M. Munro, “Evaluating policy towards
increasing owner occupation”, Housing Studies, vol. 22 (2007), pp. 243-260, 247; K. Scanlon
and C. Whitehead, “Le logement social en Europe: tendances communes et diversités
persistantes”, in C. Lévy-Vroelant and C. Tutin, eds., Le logement social en Europe au début du
XXIe siècle: la révision générale (Rennes, France, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2010).
Similar processes took place in developing countries although most countries never had a
substantial public housing stock (see UN-Habitat, Affordable Land and Housing in Africa
(Nairobi, 2011), p. 49).
Replies received from Estonia and Slovenia to a questionnaire sent by the Special Rapporteur to
Member States on 5 April 2012 (hereafter “the questionnaire”).
J. R. Logan, Y. Fang and Z. Zhang, “The winners in China’s urban housing reform”, Housing
Studies, vol. 25 (2010), pp. 101-117.
Alice Pittini, “Housing affordability in the EU: current situation and recent trends”, research
briefing of the European Social Housing Observatory, No. 1 (European Federation of Public,
Cooperative and Social Housing (CECODHAS Housing Europe)) (January 2012), p. 3. As
opposed to 22.5 per cent of the disposable income for the general population. Utility and
maintenance costs are one of the main housing affordability issues for low-income households.
Julie Lawson, Tony Gilmour and Vivienne Milligan, International Measures to Channel
Investment towards Affordable Rental Housing (Melbourne, Australian Housing and Urban
Research Institute, 2010).
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