ABSTRACT
In Hungary, the social housing problem changed after the transition as a consequence of political decentralization and privatization. With the collapse of the Eastern European Housing Model (EEHM), affordability—the ability to pay housing-related costs for a socially accepted level of housing consumption—became the key element of social housing. As a consequence of the emerging income inequality and increasing housing costs (both “operational” and access costs), more and more households had to face serious hardships to achieve a socially accepted level of housing consumption. The social housing sector was formed as an interaction between the strategies and behavior of households and the following three areas of the housing and welfare sector: (a) the social rental sector, (b) housing allowances and income benefit programs, and (c) low-cost housing opportunities. There was no consistent strategy for social housing policy after 1989, as policies were set according to the interventions of fragmented public and private institutions of different sectors (energy, water, construction, social care, etc.) and the decentralized local governments. After a brief introduction concerning the main macroeconomic changes in the background, the Hungarian case study will describe the developments in these policy areas.
