# Financing affordable social housing in Europe (UN-Habitat, 2009) * **Financing affordable social housing in Europe** * The principal author is Michael Oxley. Published by UN-Habitat in 2009 * Available as a PDF file on the International Union of Tenants site: * **Summary**: * This report evaluates the range of approaches to financing social housing that are in operation in Europe. * It identifies the key features that may be replicable in other countries particularly the developing world. * The evaluation is placed in the context of * the purpose of social housing, * the sources of funds of social housing * and the institutions that are used to provide social housing. * The size and composition of the social housing stock in different countries and the types of provider are identified. * The importance of the rent setting method and the allocation system are explained. * The relationships between public and private sources of funds and the conditions that promote a flow of commercial funding into social housing are identified. * The structure of European social housing finance systems and the roles of loans, subsidies and equity financing are explored. * Finance for construction and maintenance is considered and subsidies from public funds as well as cross-subsidies from other sectors of the economy are explored. * The effectiveness of social housing finance systems in achieving their purpose and the issues that influence the transferability of European approaches to other countries are discussed. * **Keywords**: housing crisis, affordability, social housing, financialisation of housing {% hint style="info" %} Interestingly, in her foreword to the report, Anna Tibaijuka, the then-executive director of UN-Habitat, and this was back in 2009, states: "The **global housing crisis**, especially in the developing world, is getting worse by the day making the right to adequate shelter a quest that is becoming more and more difficult to meet". One can see today's housing crisis as just the most recent phase of a decades-long process in which decent housing has generally been getting less and less affordable almost everywhere. {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://housing-base.journalismarena.eu/social-and-public-housing/advocacy-reports-and-projects/financing-affordable-social-housing-in-europe-un-habitat-2009.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.