From an economic point of view, it is not clear that housing should be in the public sector.

Housing is an important segment of socio-economic policy, especially in more densely populated regions. These areas usually face the problem of excess demand and restricted supply forcing the housing prices upwards. This either means that a portion of the population will either have to live on streets or in really small spaces which are prone to outbreak of diseases. In both the cases, the population will become worse off. Therefore, a strong need for a policy for housing.

However, this does not mean that the housing sector should be completely under the control of government. Rather the policy should act as a guide to the private sector in creating a sustainable housing system. Proper care should be taken in such a policy to sanitation and health of the people living in a particular area.

I think it should be part of the debate. Here in the UK, we have so-called 'Council Estates' that are tarnished with stigma and are not part of bigger debates around creating jobs or making areas livable. Housing plays a crucial part in economics, just look at Baltimore and how they shoved the poor black population to parts without public transport, cutting them off from jobs. That is definitely a housing issue. From the social perspective, consider entire estates without access to supermarkets, schools, hospitals, GPs. On top of that bad planning that either cuts a highway between, or has no pedestrian paths, or no cycling routes, and you are left with an area bereft of all the social elements that make great neighbourhoods. It is what Jane Jacobs has argued for for years, and her seminal book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" really points out what the issues are.

It is. I think it has two different aspects: One is real estate sector in the economy and governments policy meant for this sector. The other aspect is the social dimension of housing. It is one of the basic needs of human being. Many people across the globe (including USA) are house less.Government must make the real estate sector attractive so that investment must come. On the other hand , under the social policy government must facilitate housing provision for weaker sections of society. For many decades Indian government provides housing support for the rural poor under "Indira Awas Yojana".

In this respect I may suggest you a few books that I found stimulating about the issue at stake:

Rental Housing: An Essential Option for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries📷Alan Gilbert, United Nations Human Settlements ProgrammeUN-HABITAT, 2003

Housing and Welfare in Southern Europe 📷Judith Allen, James Barlow, Jesús Leal, Thomas Maloutas, Liliana Padovani John Wiley & Sons, 2008

📷Homeownership, Renting and Society: Historical and Comparative Perspectives Sebastian Kohl Routledge, 2017

Homeownership and the Labour Market in Europe 📷Casper van Ewijk, Michiel van Leuvensteijn, OUP Oxford, 2009

Darius, I think that it is an important part. But not in all the countries. Germany and Austria are well known for special housing policy, making part of it it social and affordable. For several decades this policy was stopping emergence of housing bubbles in those countries, in contrast to UK, Spain, France, Netherlands.

But now the things are changing for worse. I can suggest this short article about Berlin (in Russian only): https://www.vestifinance.ru/articles/118714

Here 2 aspects are to be elaborated:

1. Housing policy is a prerequisite towards affordable housing for low and sometimes even medium income people. However, it should also reflect the investors' objectives, therefore subsidies and government supports should be initiated.

2. On economic point of view, housing policy will be taken as threats as it implies the involvement of policy makers to regulate business that are not theirs. Therefore, a consultation form investors in construction industry is needed for bilateral benefits.

It is important to differentiate between two types of housing we are talking about. For example, in Colombia there is a policy to provide cheap housing to poorest families. Is the Social interest Housing Policy developed through subventions, subsidies and another public aid. The other is the private housing market that respond to demand and supply, or the conditions of the market. The first have social effects, the second can´t bee seen as a part of active economic policy. To achive some economic policy target there are other infrastructure projects that really have an economic effect in terms of economic policy.

Dear Friends and Colleagues of RG,

What socio-economic policy is appropriate for the period of slowdown in economic growth?

Many prognostic macroeconomic studies suggest a slowdown in economic growth in 2019. Therefore, it is important to develop a countercyclical, anti-crisis, interventionist, active, pro-development socio-economic policy. In connection with the above, it is current and important to formulate the answer to the following question: What socio-economic policy is appropriate for the period of slowdown in economic growth? What instruments of socio-economic policy should be applied? What sectors of the economy, which industries, what types of economic activities should be activated and supported by specific instruments of socio-economic policy to revive economic processes throughout the economy? What instruments of fiscal, social, housing policy etc. should be used in modern economies to revive economic processes throughout the economy?

Please, answer, comments.

I invite you to the discussion.

I agree with Prafulla Nath about pointing two aspects. Thinking about housing without discussing real estate policies is a way to avoid the issue.

Since we can recognize the special scarcity feature of real estate (no matter if we agree or not with a georgist perspective), there is a need to establish a public policy, at least, to prevent any speculation based on housing policy measures (even if it is only a limited policy, like Shafin Shabir suggested, e.g. regulatory policy).

About the housing itself, it must be noted that there are several reasons to consider an active public policy:

- It is, indeed, a basic need, a human right. There should be caution in housing as financial assets (hope Yuri Yegorov could give us some insights)

- As Ali Buregeya noted, in some countries a house is just not affordable (even with the income of a life time).

- As Caroline Duvier suggested, it interacts with urban planning and laboral conditions

- Housing sector is specially apt to demand domestic resources, it means that it has relatively high multiplier effects and can be financed in local currency (it is important from a monetary and balance of payments perspective)

Which policy should be adopted? There is a wide range of tools to be used. From the hungarian “Family Housing Allowance Program” ( https://ifstudies.org/blog/is-hungary-experiencing-a-policy-induced-baby-boom ), which is more family-centered, to the rental service platform in China.

In the Ecuadorian case, the policy was credit-centered through a bank funded by the pension system resources. An innovative proposal was the "Plan Casa para Todos", that includes the building of houses for the lowest income families. (Some information about it and their relation with other policies at Preprint BREVES CONSIDERACIONES RESPECTO AL PLAN “CASA PARA TODOS” O ...

# Diego suggested me to give some insights. If housing markets would have regular price, there would be less problems for poor. I was interested in housing markets trying to understand mechanisms driving bubbles. In this conference paper I tried to figure out the mechanism of emergence of bubble in Spain well before it had exploded, see Conference Paper Dynamics of Interest Rate and Spanish Housing Markets

Conference Paper Aggregate and Average Land Rent in Cities

Dear Colleagues and Friends from RG, The above discussion inspired me to the following considerations regarding the following issues: Correlations between social problems and the economic situation of the country. In many situations, economic problems cause social problems and vice versa. Accordingly, social and economic problems are interdependent. Key social problems in many countries include the poverty of a significant proportion of the population, i.e. low income for some citizens. Poor income, material, financial, housing, etc. situation of citizens is associated with poverty. In addition, high levels of poverty are often associated with low levels of education, high levels of unemployment, low consumption, lack of financial savings, limited access to many basic services offered by both commercial enterprises and those offered by public sector institutions. Therefore, the high poverty scale of a significant part of society is a factor limiting the country's economic development. In such a situation, within the framework of social and socio-economic policy, the State should support citizens in order to reduce the scale of poverty in society. I described this type of socio-economic policy in my publications on the example of the Family 500 Plus Program and the Flat Plus Program (Mieszkanie Plus Program) used for 3 years. I invite you to cooperate in research on this subject. In addition, other social problems also include negative processes for the economy of changes in the demographic structure of society, i.e. aging of the society. Social problems also include an increase in school violence and youth crime, an increase in the use of certain categories of drugs, etc. The state incurs high costs in programs to combat the negative effects of these social problems, e.g. in cases of accidents caused by people under the influence of drugs, intoxicants . It is necessary to conduct prevention and prevention programs consisting in raising public awareness through social campaigns conducted in various media, including new online media and social media portals. This is necessary because all these social problems generate high costs for the state and contribute to the slowdown of economic development. In connection with the above, the government should constantly improve its socio-economic policy so that it plays the role of pro-development, activating entrepreneurship, thanks to which new jobs are created, employment increases, income, consumption, production, investments and also financial and tax revenues to the state budget grow.

Do you agree with me on the above matter?

Please reply.

I invite you to discussion and scientific cooperation.

Thank you very much.

Best wishes.

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Certainly...Malpass, P. (2005). Housing and the welfare state. The development of housing policy in Britain.

… The right to housing is best seen as a political `marker of concern' pointing out housing as an area for welfare state policy … Bengtsson, B. (2001). Housing as a social right: Implications for welfare state theory. Scandinavian Political Studies, 24(4), 255-275.

A variety of conceptions of the state, from pluralist to Marxist, can be used to interpret the social and spatial dimensions of state activity and the limits of state relative autonomy. Three of these state theories are compared and assessed in this paper in the context of an empirical analysis of the performance of Brazil's massive National Housing Bank (BNH), which set ambitious goals of spatially and socially progressive resource redistribution... Klak, T. (1990). Spatially and socially progressive state policy and programs: the case of Brazil's National Housing Bank. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 80(4), 571-589.

Case of USA... The classic primer for its subject, Housing Policy in the United States, has been substantially revised in the wake of the 2007 near-collapse of the housing market and the nation’s recent signs of recovery. Like its previous editions, this standard volume offers a broad overview of the field, but expands to include new information on how the crisis has affected the nation’s housing challenges, and the extent to which the federal government has addressed them. Schwartz also includes the politics of austerity that has permeated almost all aspects of federal policymaking since the Congressional elections of 2010, new initiatives to rehabilitate public housing, and a new chapter on the foreclosure crisis. The latest available data on housing conditions, housing discrimination, housing finance, and programmatic expenditures is included, along with all new developments in federal housing policy... Schwartz, A. F. (2014). Housing policy in the United States. Routledge.

In Australia, as in many other developed countries, provision of public housing (a form of social housing) formed a core component of housing policy for lower-income earners for much of the twentieth century post-1945. Despite its proportionately small and shrinking size in Australia (less than 5% of all dwellings), the sector’s vital social role makes it a continuing central concern in policy debates... Pawson, H., Milligan, V., & Yates, J. (2020). Housing Policy in Australia. Springer Singapore.

Dear D A Gayan Nayanajith,

Thank you very much for participating in the discussion and for answering the question: Is housing policy an important segment of the state's social and economic policy? Thank you very much for the given bibliographic sources and participation in the discussion. Very interesting considerations. A very inspiring and interesting answer. Thank you very much for your response. Thank you for the proposed interesting issues in the field social and economic policy. Joint discussions are very constructive, new concepts are created, ideas are exchanged and different approaches to specific issues are created. Joint discussions significantly contribute to the improvement of the developed concepts of scientific research, new theses, new formulas and directions of new research works. In view of the above, I also encourage you to continue discussions on various topics on my profile.

Thank you very much, Regards, have a nice day, Best wishes, All the best, Stay healthy!

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Housing policy may constitute an important segment of anti-crisis, interventionist socio-economic, budgetary, fiscal, sectoral policies, etc. In 2020, in the country where construction companies operate, they received large financial subsidies as part of anti-crisis public aid, and in addition, despite the fact that the construction industry did not is in crisis. As a result, real estate prices increased, and additionally with a high level of new housing supply. On the other hand, it was possible to save many jobs despite the economic downturn in macroeconomic terms. As a result, the level of recession and slump, unemployment, etc. in the economy was weaker.

Greetings,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Yes, the housing policy may be one of the key types of anti-crisis sectoral policy. The SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic has caused an economic downturn in many countries. As part of anti-crisis measures, systems of financial support for enterprises and companies in selected industries and sectors of the economy were launched under public aid. One of this type of sector is the construction sector, whose economic entities, from April 2020, as well as other enterprises and companies of certain types of sectors, received financial subsidies to finance the fixed costs of business activity and subsidies to the salaries of employees. The purpose of this type of anti-crisis state intervention is to limit the scale of the increase in unemployment.

Greetings, Have a nice day, Stay healthy!

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Yes of course

Yes it is.

I think I shuod do that

I think I shuod do that

Dear Afraa Ibrahim, Muhammad Ihsan, Ashok Kumar, Bushra Mahmood Alwan,

Thank you very much for the answer and confirmation of the above theses. I am glad that we have a similar opinion on the importance of pro-development, anti-crisis socio-economic policy, etc. in order to stimulate economic processes and lead the economy out of the economic recession caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic.

Thank you,

Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Yes, of course, the innovative solutions on housing should make a difference in different welfare aspects. I'm recently working on it in a case study in Italy ... the results coming soon.

Yes, its important but not the main segment

Dear Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak, Georgia Casanova, Muhammad Arshad,

Thank you very much for your answer and confirmation that housing policy may constitute an important segment of pro-development and / or anti-crisis, interventionist, Keynesian socio-economic policy. This issue is also important in the context of improving the anti-crisis socio-economic policy in order to efficiently lead the economy out of the current economic crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic.

Thank you, Greetings,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Many Western European countries turned into welfare states in the 1950s, whereby housing became a tool of income redistribution, largely through the construction of a large subsidized rental stock. In Northwestern Europe, over 60 percent of the present stock was built after 1945. The states' response to housing shortages was geared to increasing social equity; a huge financial effort was needed to accommodate the rapidly growing number of households. Since the early 1970s, governments have been trying to increase the economic efficiency of their housing systems without compromising social equity. Consequently, the focus of housing policy shifted from blanket regulation to targeted support for households in need. More fundamental changes lie ahead, as governments now give priority to economic development goals.

Dear Sudhir Yadav,

Yes, I agree with what you wrote. Housing policy is increasingly becoming one of the important instruments of attempts to revive economic processes. The effects of these actions are not always only positive. Much depends on various macroeconomic conditions, sector and branch structure of the economy, equipping the economy with specific categories of production factors, the potential of financial resources that the state can allocate to interventionist pro-development activities, the scale and nature of the involvement of the commercial financial system sector, including the commercial banking sector in financing investment projects in housing construction, etc.

Thank you, Greetings,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Yes, I fully agree!

Dear Metin Ozdogan,

Thank you for your response. I am glad that we have a similar opinion on housing policy and socio-economic policy. Thanks for confirming my theses above on this subject.

Thank you, Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Dear Lilian Mboya,

Thank you very much for the link to the interesting publication entitled: Housing policy - the link between welfare and economic development.

Thank you, Regards,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

In the country where I operate for several years, the Mieszkanie Plus Program has been carried out as an important factor in the housing policy. The housing policy conducted in this way is an important segment of pro-development socio-economic policy, which stabilizes economic processes also in the event of a decline in economic activity, also in the event of a slowdown in economic growth caused by the development of the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic. I described the Mieszkanie Plus program as an important factor in the housing policy in my publications on my Research Gate profile.

Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Dear Muhammad Arshad,

I also think analogously on this topic.

Thank you, Regards,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Dear Georgia Casanova,

Thanks for the answer. I think similarly that innovative solutions and state support in the field of housing construction may be an important element of social policy and contribute to the improvement of the housing and material situation of citizens. Unfortunately, real estate prices in many countries have recently increased rapidly, despite the economic crisis of 2020 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, due to the rapid increase in real estate prices, flats are becoming less affordable for low-income citizens.

Thank you very much,

Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Yes, I have shown in my publications that an efficiently conducted housing policy and the policy of activating infrastructure construction investments can be an important factor in anti-crisis, pro-development socio-economic policy, activation of economic growth and a factor mitigating the negative effects of a downturn in the economy. I researched and described the importance of the governmental program Mieszkanie Plus as an important factor in activating construction investments in the residential construction segment. The Mieszkanie Plus program was not fully implemented in line with the original plans presented by the government at press conferences at the end of 2015. On the other hand, large investment projects financed from the state finance system are being developed as part of infrastructural construction investments, thanks to which the road, rail, air, river and sea transport infrastructure is improving. Thanks to the implementation of such large-scale construction projects, the economy has been more gentle in the economic crisis triggered in 2008 by the global financial crisis and in 2020 by the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic. Large-scale construction investment projects in the housing sector and / or in the public infrastructure investment sector allow the economy to retain many jobs in the context of the downturn in other sectors of the economy.

Regards,

Dariusz

I am Agree with comments of Prof. Dr. Dariusz Prokopowicz, the housing policy of the state reflect the development of real estate sector and improvement of public life and infrastructure, boost of the economy such as construction sector boost more than thirty industries, which is an important factor of the socio-economic policy of the state.

Obviously it is, but its management is always difficult (at least).

In Italy it is run in a delinquent way (for a long, long time).

Dear Aijaz,

Thanks for the answer. I am glad that we have a similar opinion on the importance of housing policy in the context of the broadly understood socio-economic policy of the state. In the country where I operate, the housing policy has been shaped in a special and interesting way in some matters in recent years. On the one hand, when the current government won the parliamentary elections for the first time in the autumn of 2015, the large-scale program Mieszkanie Plus, which was to significantly improve the housing, material and living situation of citizens, was to be an important factor in counteracting the progressing aging of the society, unfortunately not was completed in over 95 percent. compared to the original plan set in mid-2016. This plan was to be implemented even before the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic. I described these issues in my articles and chapters of monographs, in which I analyzed the determinants of both the implementation of this program and the potential positive effects for society and the economy. The SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic in 2020 became a key factor inspiring various economic processes, changes in economic policy, introduced lockdowns, which affected selected service sectors in the economy, and consequently led to an economic crisis and a short-term but deep recession economy in the second half of 2020. The production sectors and enterprises operating in the construction sector were not subject to lockdowns. The priority was to limit the scale of unemployment growth and to complete the commenced construction investments on time. On the other hand, the central bank lowered interest rates as part of its anti-crisis measures. to a record low of 0.1 percent. Loans offered by commercial banks decreased. The scale of mortgage loans taken out for the purchase of real estate increased significantly. In 2021, a record number of mortgage loans was granted. Consequently, despite the economic crisis of 2020, real estate prices have continued to rise rapidly from several years to the present. However, now, i.e. from 2022, the situation has started to change on many issues.

Thank you very much,

Best regards,

Dariusz