A/68/289 individuals and households from economic and financial shocks. Legal and institutional frameworks should be created to ensure security of tenure for all forms of tenure; (ii) The design of housing policies should be based on an assessment of housing needs, taking into consideration the specific demographic, geographic, economic and social conditions in each region, and the characteristics of the various disadvantaged groups (including low-income households), their existing housing conditions and forms of tenure; (iii) States should refrain from focusing their housing policies on finance schemes with predominantly regressive effects, such as mortgage interest rate subsidies or tax exemptions; (b) Rental tenure should be encouraged: (i) A well-functioning rental sector with both private renting and social components is critical to a sustainable housing system. States should therefore support and encourage the development of both a private and social rental sector; (ii) States should adopt measures to encourage the construction and maintenance of a private rental sector, including by providing incentives for small-scale landlords (such as tax incentives and supply-based subsidies that stimulate private investment) and support the non-profit and community-based development of rental housing; (iii) States should provide housing support mechanisms for low-income households or households with irregular income, including by providing rent allowances; establishing a housing benefit system and guaranteeing funds to cover the costs arising from the non-payment of rent and service payments of the most vulnerable; and providing tenancy protection and rent control legislation; (iv) States should recognize and support the informal rental sector in informal settlements, and include in their housing programmes incentives and subsidies to assist small-scale landlords to expand and improve habitability in rental accommodation; (v) States should encourage and support the use of standardized rental contracts, in order to reduce the number and severity of disputes between landlords and tenants. To that end, standard forms of contracts should be freely available and widely distributed and should not require notary approval; (vi) Urban renewal and informal settlement upgrading programmes should take into account the rights of tenants and should be designed with their full participation; (vii) States should encourage greater use of empty housing stock, by, inter alia, encouraging the rehabilitation of vacant homes, increasing taxation on unused properties and improving access to low-cost loan funds for people who require financial assistance to get empty properties back into use , including through rent; (c) 13-42184 Collective forms of tenure should be encouraged: 23/24