Quality: 4 - País

Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia

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Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia

Mismatches New family structures
Financing
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 1991:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Housing Fund of Republic of Slovenia (SSRS)

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Cerknica
Country/Region: Slovenia

Description

The objectives and specific targets of the Fund have evolved, but remain focused on the construction, renovation and maintenance of apartments and residential buildings, targeted at groups with particular needs such as families, young people, the elderly, and Roma populations. The main instruments used to achieve this have involved co-financing with long-term favourable loans and interest rate subsidies, and investments in new innovations and international research. The Housing Fund is a public authority and actively invests directly in housing and also co-invests in local community housing programmes, complementing the efforts of municipalities and non-government organizations. It also purchases land and houses directly on the market. Since 2006, non-profit dwellings regulated under the Housing Act have been let at relatively regulated low rents. Consequently, they are in high demand among prospective tenants, but have proven less attractive to investors. With its own construction and purchase projects on the market, the Fund provides an additional quota of publicly available rental housing, tying rent calculation to the real estate investment or purchase value. It offers eligible tenants a stable rental relationship under pre-known conditions for an indefinite period. In 2019 CEIB (also discussed in this chapter) provided the Fund with a long-term loan of EUR 50 million.

Issues tackled

Currently the Fund directly owns 3,042 non-profit rental-housing units and a further 787 dwellings which are let at cost-based rents. Two companies owned by the fund own another 2,056 apartments, which they rent out at non-profit rent. These dwellings are located throughout Slovenia. The Fund is intensively building affordable rental apartments throughout Slovenia, and by 2023 it will provide 2,194 new public rental apartments.

The Fund is now focusing on effective administration for public rental dwellings. Thus, between 2017 and 2020, its activities have included:

Co-investment in new public rental housing units, including residential units, under a co-financing programme
Establishment and operation of the Public Service for Rental Management and Records system
Management of mixed portfolio of formerly non-profit, commercial, and sheltered housing
Providing new public rental housing units for young people, young families and the elderly, the utilization of rental buying-in and shared ownership instruments
Development of new projects on land owned by the Fund
Financial incentives for housing in the form of soft loans
Sustainable construction and complete renovation of the housing stock for all products and programmes of the Fund
Technical standards for the home-building industry
Cooperation in development projects in housing construction
Strengthening and implementing the Fund’s development role in housing
Efforts to obtain funding from EU funds
Acquiring assets for and in the framework of partner projects.

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Mikrofond EAD and Habitat for Humanity in Bulgaria

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Mikrofond EAD and Habitat for Humanity in Bulgaria

Mismatches
Financing
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2008: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Mikrofond EAD
  • Promotor: Habitat for Humanity

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Bulgaria
Country/Region: Bulgaria

Description

In 2008, the Habitat for Humanity International established a partnership with Mikrofond EAD, a microfinance organization in Bulgaria that focuses on underserved regions and communities.

They have run a project together to deliver housing microfinance services to clients in housing poverty throughout Bulgaria.[1]

Before the partnership, Mikrofond offered only business loans, but it saw an opportunity to introduce consumer loans for home improvements. The size of the loans provided was EUR 1,750 (USD 2,365) and the average payment duration is 31 months.

Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria (http://hfh.bg/bg/) and Mikrofond also jointly provide financial education programmes to their clients. These cover budgeting, saving, debt management and financial planning, along with raising clients’ awareness about the benefits and risks of using credit.

[1] Habitat for Humanity, “Shelter Report 2014” (see sect. Microfinance for self-building and modernising housing, footnote 175).

Links

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From silos to systemic reform – The National Housing System strategy of Malta

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From silos to systemic reform – The National Housing System strategy of Malta

Policies and regulations
Financing
Promotion and production
Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2020:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Housing Authority of Malta

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Santa Venera
Country/Region: Malta, Valletta

Description

Malta has recently pursued a new vision for housing policy development. Taking a culturally sensitive approach has been central to this, reflecting on new realities brought about by economic progress, migration, and new household formation trends. This perspective stresses the value of social relationships in homes and neighbourhoods, as well as the importance of participatory governance to accommodate a multi-ethnic and heterogeneous population.

In August 2020, the Ministry for Social Accommodation launched its first National Housing System strategy. This followed the 2018 work of the Parliamentary Secretariat for Social Accommodation, which sought to diversify the housing market by using short, medium and long-term goals. These included private rented sector regulation, affordable housing development, and specialized housing programmes regenerating abandoned or dilapidated properties.

Links

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Inclusionary zoning law in the United Kingdom

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Inclusionary zoning law in the United Kingdom

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Financing
Urban Design
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2007:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: United Kingdom Government

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: United Kingdom

Description

The two main sources of investment in new social housing in the United Kingdom are central government funding and planning agreements between private developers and local authorities, under which the developer contributes land, housing or cash as a condition of planning permission.Planning obligations to support the provision of social housing are known as Section 75 Agreements in Scotland and Section 106 Agreements in England and Wales[1]. Agreements must be directly relevant to the proposed development, prescribe a given portion of housing that is affordable and compensate for loss or damage created by a development (for example, loss of open space), or mitigate a development’s impact (for example, through increased public transport provision). Around a third of all affordable housing delivered in Scotland between 2007 and 2012 involved some form of development contribution.[1] In England, section 106 supported the development of 28,000 affordable homes in 2019, almost half of all such units.[2] Despite their significance, the United Kingdom Government planning reform has proposed the abolition of section 106 agreements in the future.[3] Scottish land policy continues to support affordable housing development through securing land for such development. Any land gained through development contributions is transferred to registered not-for-profit social landlords. Only landlords operating on a not-for-profit basis can receive land development contributions and provide social housing. The usual arrangement between a local authority and a private developer is that, before 30 per cent of the market units have been completed, land for 25 per cent of the residential units will be passed on to a registered social landlord at nil value.[1] The registered social landlord will normally then develop the affordable housing land.[2]

Since 2016 the Scottish government has increased investment in affordable housing alongside pro-social land policies, producing more than 50,000 additional units in just three years. This has taken place in combination with needs assessment and social housing investment plans, which are discussed in subsequent chapters on governance and finance.

Links

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Individual rent assistance in the Netherlands

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Individual rent assistance in the Netherlands

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Financing
Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

Date

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Tax and Customs Administration of the Netherlands

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: Netherlands

Description

The well-established Dutch scheme of individual rent assistance is based on a quality point system for rent-setting and is provided directly to tenants.
Unlike the United States system, the Dutch tax department assesses household incomes and makes direct payments to eligible households – being households with low to moderate income or reliant on social assistance. Unlike the United States, the scheme is not capped, but it is limited in other ways.

Importantly, rent assistance is conditional on households occupying moderately priced dwellings and it only pays part of the rental costs. As mentioned above, dwellings are assessed by an annually indexed government point system based on quality and space, and assistance is only provided to dwellings under a cost limit. Nevertheless, most modest rental dwellings fall below this and 33 per cent of households in the social sector can receive allowances.

Links

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In the United States most rented dwellings are provided by private landlords and this sector has a small affordable rental housing segment

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In the United States most rented dwellings are provided by private landlords and this sector has a small affordable rental housing segment

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Financing
Promotion and production
Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

Date

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Location

Continent: North America
Country/Region: United States of America

Description

Housing vouchers (HVs), funded by the central government and allocated locally, are the most common United States mechanism to ensure rents are affordable. HVs aim to increase purchasing power and improve housing choices for very low-income renters, and more recently have used to encourage poor households to move to areas of greater labour opportunity. The voucher is provided to eligible tenants according to a waiting list maintained by city or county housing agencies, who are searching for housing of a defined quality and cost. When a suitable dwelling and willing landlord is found, the HV can be used to help pay the tenant’s rent[1]. This HV payment reflects the difference between a Fair Market Rent (FMR) which is calculated locally, and affordable rent defined as 30 per cent household income. If an HV recipient cannot find suitable housing within 60 days, the voucher must be returned to the issuing local housing authority.

The budget for HVs is capped and both demand and need outstrips availability. HVs are targeted strictly based on income – 75 per cent of recipients have a very low income.[2] It is estimated that only 25 per cent of eligible households are actually assisted by HVs due to limited supply, leading to long waiting lists and occasional government crises measures.[3] Voucher recipients also face discrimination when searching for suitable homes. Only a few local governments have passed “source of income laws”[4] to combat this problem.

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