A turn towards post-neoliberalism? Housing policy paradigm crisis in Europe

Abstract

Housing policy in the twenty first century has been characterised as following a neoliberal, asset-driven paradigm. Are signs of a policy paradigm crisis emerging? Combining political economy research on institutional and ideational change, this article develops a theoretical and analytical framework to map and assess change and continuity. It applies the framework to a comparative case study of 147 housing policy measures introduced in the Netherlands (56), Spain (47), and Germany (44) from 2009 to 2022. We find evidence that, while key tenets of the neoliberal paradigm remain resilient, a renewed role of the state has led to a policy paradigm crisis in the three countries, albeit to different degrees. The outcome of the crisis sets the stage for either a more socially embedded readaptation of the existing ‘housing-as-asset’ paradigm or a major shift towards one characterised by ‘housing-as-social-right’.