Foreword This study reviews the post-privatization rental housing challenges confronted by six transition countries in the Europe and Central Asia region: Armenia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Serbia. The common problem for policy makers across these countries is that housing privatizations decimated the stock of social housing, while the growing market-based housing production has been almost entirely focused on homeownership. As the number of households who did not benefit from the privatization continues to grow – especially the young, the mobile and the poor – the lack of accessible and affordable formal rental housing is pushing them into informal rentals with little tenure security, discouraging higher residential mobility and thus labor market flexibility. Governments are increasingly recognizing that sustainable homeownership for all is neither financially and fiscally possible, nor desirable for all household groups and life-cycle stages. Consequently, there is a need for post-privatization housing policies to recognize and address the need for social, non-profit and market-based rental housing choice. In order to respond to this growing policy gap, the Bank has undertaken an extensive literature review. That desk study has been supplemented by limited field work. The study offers preliminary recommendations regarding the directions of policy response aimed at creating better choice of rental tenure by households who cannot attain homeownership and by those who consciously opt for this tenure form. We hope that this study will contribute to the growing policy dialogue within ECA countries in the area of housing and urban development. Peter Thomson Director Infrastructure Department Europe and Central Asia Region |  Table of contents Abstract, acknowledgements and foreword (PDF, 324 kb) Executive summary (PDF, 236 kb) 1. Introduction (PDF, 239 kb) 2. Conceptual Considerations (PDF, 259 kb) 3. Evidence of Tenure Choice (PDF, 380 kb) 4. Regional Tenure Choice Policies (PDF, 312 kb) 5. Study Conclusions and Recommendations (PDF, 263 kb) Annex 1. Knowledge Base on Housing Tenure Choice (PDF, 301 kb) Annex 2. Design Outline for Rental Housing Survey (PDF, 269 kb) |
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