Housing Vouchers: A Comparative International Analysis by Emanuel Jay Howenstine

Author:Emanuel Jay Howenstine [Howenstine, Emanuel Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Social Services & Welfare, Social Science, Political Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781351514866
Google: dtwzDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 39207592
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1986-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

Housing Allowances and National Housing Subsidy Policy: An Overview

Highly industrialized countries have now had two to three decades of experience with housing allowances. What does the overall picture look like?

Unfortunately the information available at the international level on the performance of housing allowance programs is incomplete. Table 10 presents the most recent available data on participants and payments in housing allowance systems.

Two major conclusions emerge. First, in four countries (Finland, France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), approximately one-fifth or more—and in three additional countries (Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands) approximately one-tenth or more—of total households are recipients of some form of housing allowance. Since 1980 census household data are not yet generally available, 1970 data were used. Therefore, these fractions are only approximations. This testifies to the considerable importance which the housing allowance has assumed in the everyday life of highly industrialized countries.

Second, average housing allowance payments in most countries amount to $500 or more per year, that is, around $42 or more per month. This is a substantial contribution to the family budget and to a reduction of the rent burden on low-income families.

Turning to subsidy policy as a whole, what is the relative importance of housing allowances in national housing subsidy expenditures? Available data are even more unsatisfactory on the larger subsidy issues than on housing allowance systems per se. Few continuous time series are available, definitions are not always comparable, and there is undoubtedly an underreporting of many forms of indirect housing subsidies, particularly those granted by provincial and municipal governments. This means that the percentages, which have been calculated in Table 11 concerning the role of housing allowances in total national housing subsidies, are in all probability overestimates. Nevertheless, recognizing their weaknesses and limited value, two general conclusions can be drawn.

TABLE 10

Housing Allowance Participants and Payments in Highly Industrialized Countries

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