GLOBAL-SOCIAL HOUSING: A KEY PART OF PAST AND FUTURE HOUSING POLICY

Rising housing prices, stagnating wages, demographic pressures, and declining public investment in housing in many countries are increasingly challenging housing affordability in many OECD and non-OECD European Union (EU) countries (OECD, 2020[1]). Between 2005 and 2019, real house prices increased in 31 OECD countries, and rent prices rose in all but two OECD countries (OECD, 2020[1]). Moreover, since the Global Financial Crisis, house prices have risen faster than incomes in 21 of 33 OECD countries for which data are available. These trends have made it harder for households to afford to house. Indeed, while there have been some improvements in recent years, more than a third of low-income renters spend over 40% of their disposable income on housing, on average in the OECD, and are thus considered overburdened by housing costs.