Resource overview (OECD policy brief)
This resource is an OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Policy Brief titled “Social housing: A key part of past and future housing policy”. The publisher is the OECD (Paris); individual authors are not named in the document. It frames social housing as a long-standing pillar of welfare and affordable housing provision, and positions investment in social housing construction and renovation as relevant to Europe’s sustainability and inclusion goals.
Scale and role of social housing in Europe
Across OECD and non-OECD EU countries, social rental housing represents more than 28 million dwellings, around 6% of the total housing stock on average. The size of the sector varies widely: in most OECD/EU countries social rental housing is under 10% of the dwelling stock, but it exceeds 20% in Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands, where it functions as a major “third sector” alongside private and public housing. Social housing is defined here as rental accommodation offered at sub-market prices and allocated through rules such as need criteria and/or waiting lists.
Target groups, eligibility, and providers
The brief distinguishes between more “universalist” systems (in principle open to a broad population) and “targeted” systems focused on low-income and vulnerable households. Most countries use income thresholds for eligibility, and many also apply criteria related to residency/citizenship, household composition, health, disability, or current housing conditions. Because demand typically exceeds supply, allocation often relies on waiting lists and priority categories (e.g., disability, urgent housing need, time waiting). Provision is also diverse: on average, regional and municipal authorities provide about half of social housing, with the remainder split across non-/limited-profit associations and cooperatives, national governments, and for-profit providers (with different mixes by country).
Key trends and risks (affordability, residualisation, shrinking stock)
The brief links rising affordability pressures to broader housing-market dynamics: real house prices increased in 31 OECD countries between 2005 and 2019, and rents rose in all but two OECD countries. Since the Global Financial Crisis, house prices grew faster than incomes in 21 of 33 OECD countries with data. Despite some improvements, more than one-third of low-income renters spend over 40% of disposable income on housing (OECD average), indicating widespread cost overburden. At the same time, social housing has increasingly housed a higher concentration of lower-income and vulnerable tenants, which can challenge financial sustainability and contribute to a spatial concentration of poverty and disadvantage. The brief reports that the relative size of the social housing sector has been shrinking in most countries with available data, partly due to declining public investment, even where renovation and revitalisation programmes aim to improve dwellings and neighbourhoods. It stresses that renovation policies should avoid displacing low-income households.
COVID-19, renovation, and the sustainability agenda
COVID-19 highlighted persistent gaps in housing quality and affordability, especially for low-income and vulnerable households, and prompted emergency support measures in many countries. Looking ahead, the brief argues that social housing investment can contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive recovery, aligning with the EU’s “Renovation Wave” under the European Green Deal. It notes that the building sector is a major energy consumer and source of emissions, and that improving energy efficiency—particularly in social housing—can help address both climate objectives and energy poverty, provided that quality upgrades do not trigger “renovictions” or other forms of displacement.