ABSTRACT
The second chapter embeds affordable housing policy and the actual affordable housing production that occurs within a politico-institutional framework wherein housing welfare and security are stipulated and prioritized policy goals. A review of the scholarly literature indicates that access to affordable homes has significant welfare effects that generate positive externalities such as better schooling attainment among children and improved labour market inclusion. Despite such documented effects of housing policy, the sheer complexity of the question of how to regulate and monitor housing markets and housing production activities precludes quick and resolute reforms. Instead, most jurisdictions manage the housing market on the basis of a combination of market practices and subsidies to either households (being the primary beneficiary) or market actors (which supports housing welfare indirectly). The chapter concludes that despite the diversity of policy approaches, being determined by local political traditions, it is difficult to formulate a “one best way” model that would plausibly apply in most jurisdictions.
