Defining Individual Housing Need: Dimensions of a Reasonable Housing Allowance System

In most European countries national social policy regards housing as a basic social service, comparable, for example, to education and health. Accordingly, i f the family is unable to afford the cost of decent accommo­ dations, the state is deemed to have an obligation to provide housing at a subsidized price. This principle has four main dimensions, all of which involve issues of moral judgment.