Comparative Welfare States, Housing Policy in North America and Europe - Institutional Analysis and Welfare State Regimes: United States, Canada Britain, Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Greece

Abstract

Housing is an essential factor in determining the quality of lives, the stability of communities, and the health of national economies. Its importance to society is underscored by the fact that housing accounts for a significant portion of personal-public consumption expenditures and gross private domestic investment in most North American and European countries. The housing sector is a leading indicator of economic activity, and a lagging indicator of social welfare. The public and private housing sectors are extremely sensitive to changes in monetary and fiscal conditions, and social, political and welfare policies. In most industrialized countries housing quality is high; however, affordability and access have become a major issue. In developing countries, longstanding problems of low quality and high relative cost have been exacerbated by high rates of population growth and country-to-city migration, and by urban infrastructures that are ill equipped to accommodate residential growth. Direct government assistance for housing in both industrialized and developing countries generally has been more extensive than in the United States. With the adoption of housing acts (Housing Act of 1949), the United States and other North American and European countries have formally pledged itself to the goal of providing 'a decent home and a suitable living environment for every family.' Nevertheless, the definition of what is 'decent' has varied according to economic conditions, political climate, and prevailing tastes. Furthermore, in most European countries the responsibility for producing housing and delivering housing services relies on both the public and private sectors; while in the United States, the responsibility for producing housing and delivering housing services remains almost exclusively in the private sector. This first section of this paper will discuss housing policy and institutions under various theories: functionalism and stratification, modernization, neo Marxian, and institutionalism. The second section of this paper will categorize and explore similarities and differences between housing policy and performance under various welfare regimes: social democratic (Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), liberal (United States, Canada, and United Kingdom), conservative-corporatist (Germany and France), and Latin-conservative-corporatist (Italy and Greece) regimes. The last section of this report analyzes economic, demographic and housing statistics for each regime. The goal is to identify structural and fundamental differences between housing policies in various welfare state regimes. Discussion of results, conclusions and recommendations, and anticipated usefulness of results also follow.