Examples of Financialisation & Institutionalisation of Affordable Housing (September 2019)

• Narrative and Examples of Financialisation & Institutionalisation of Affordable Housing

• By Aquila housing and regeneration consultancy company. Written for UCL’s Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management’s (BSCPM) oneday conference “The Case of Affordable Housing": a global perspective on financing and institutional ownership” Round Table Discussion “Tackling the housing crisis-councils, housing associations and Homes England” (12 September 2019)

• https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/construction/sites/bartlett/files/190917_ucl_briefing_aquila.pdf

• Abstract:

  • The paper analyses the drivers for financing affordable housing in the context where there are already social housing systems and jurisdictions that do not have such systems, from the point of view of a housing and regeneration consultancy company.

  • The paper also looks into the ways the UK social housing sector has responded to decreased public funding and changes in macroeconomic policies and political priorities over time, and brings examples of institutional ownership and financialisation in Rwanda, France, Vienna (Austria), London (UK).

  • Conclusion of the report: "Financing and institutional ownership of affordable housing is a sustainable way to provide sub-market housing to the people who need it most. As opposed to making private market housing affordable through demand-side interventions, institutional affordable housing aims to create a fully functional market of its own by utilising its key strengths: long term asset value and long-term rental income streams."

• Keywords: affordable housing, social housing, public housing, financialisation of housing, financialization of housing, financialisation, institutionalisation of affordable housing, housing crisis